


Causations

by Hester_Of_Ravenswood



Series: RWBY, but Pollination Style [15]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, No Smut, No enabler, Surprise Pairing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 30,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27413995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hester_Of_Ravenswood/pseuds/Hester_Of_Ravenswood
Summary: Hey guys! No, I'm not dead (and surprisingly this fic isn't either)! Have fun, cause this one is a RIDE!Side note: As always, no enabler, no smut
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee/Yang Xiao Long, Coco Adel/Velvet Scarlatina, Fox Alistair/Yatsuhashi Daichi, Ilia Amitola/Pyrrha Nikos/Sun Wukong, Jaune Arc/Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Neopolitan/Ciel Soleil, Oscar Pine/Whitley Schnee, Penny Polendina/Winter Schnee, Qrow Branwen/Elm Ederne
Series: RWBY, but Pollination Style [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661938
Comments: 12
Kudos: 39





	1. Cheat Sheet

**The Belladonna-Schnees** -

Adolpha Lin Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Dolph, Dolphie, Flower Bitch (FB)
  * Aura Color: Gray
  * Semblance: Can see possible futures and the probability of it
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Wolf ears
  * Appearance: 5’9’’, short gray hair, light gray eyes
  * Pronunciation: A-doll-fa
  * Romantic Interest(s): Romelle Soliel
  * Theme Song:  Little Lion Man by Tonight Alive
  * Sexuality: Lesbian, confirmed monogamous



Jin Rin Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Jinny (by Ilesha)
  * Aura Color: Yellow
  * Semblance: Can cut any damage absorbed in half
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Armadillo scales
  * Appearance: 6’0’’, long blond hair in a ponytail, lilac eyes
  * Pronunciation: J-in
  * Romantic Interest(s): Saffron Adel and Romy Soliel
  * Theme Song:  Ringleader by The Madison Letter
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Akio Ciel Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Kio, Tealeporter
  * Aura Color: Pale green
  * Semblance: Teleportation
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’11’’, short brown hair, and light brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: A-key-o
  * Romantic Interest(s): Rosemary Adel
  * Theme Song: Soldier, Poet, King by The Oh Hellos
  * Sexuality: Heterosexual



Aella Sun Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Ally, Allie, Detevtive Bubble Pipe (DBP), Ellie (Coopy Poo!)
  * Aura Color: Crimson red
  * Semblance: Able to manipulate the wind
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Sugar glider gliders
  * Appearance: 5’4’’, salt and pepper colored hair, and yellow eyes
  * Pronunciation: Ay-ella
  * Romantic Interest(s): Raelynn Nikos, Braelyn Vine, and Cassandra Vine
  * Theme Song: Grab Your Shoes by Andrew Allen
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Crystal Ilia Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Cy, Stally (Ilesha), GPS
  * Aura Color: Light blue
  * Semblance: Glyphs
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Snow leopard tail
  * Appearance: 5’2’’, pale white braided hair, and silver eyes
  * Pronunciation: Cry-stal
  * Romantic Interest(s): None (formerly Ilesha Ajax)
  * Theme Song:  Break up in a Small Town by Sam Hunt
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Lavey Penny Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Lav, Lav-Lav (by Ilesha), Bandwagon
  * Aura Color: Maroon
  * Semblance: Can absorb and release kinetic energy
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’0’’, short red hair, silver eyes
  * Pronunciation: Lay-vee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None (formerly Ilesha Ajax)
  * Theme Song: Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Auburn Whitley Belladona-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Aub, Burn, Aubby (Clover), Snitch
  * Aura Color: Navy blue
  * Semblance: Can combine semblances of others
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Swordfish gills
  * Appearance: 5’8’’, dark brown hair, and yellow eyes
  * Pronunciation: Aub-burn
  * Romantic Interest(s): Clover Nikos
  * Theme Song: Oops!... I Did it Again by Britney Spears
  * Sexuality: Gay



Meriah Syntheia Belladonna-Schnee

  * Nicknames: Merrie, Merry
  * Aura Color: Bright blue
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): German shepherd ears
  * Appearance: 4’8’’, light brown hair, and bright blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Mer-I-uh
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song:  Danny’s Song by Loggins & Messina
  * Sexuality: Undetermined



**The Schnee-Polendinas-**

Cooper Ruby Schnee-Polendina

  * Nicknames: Coop, Coopy-poo (Aella/Penny), Locksmith
  * Aura Color: Teal
  * Semblance: Can communicate with machines
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’4’’, short white hair, and blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: koo-per
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Sunshine by Jef Joslin
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



**The Soliels-**

Romy Jaune Soliel

  * Nicknames: Sad Girl Hours(SGH)
  * Aura Color: Hot pink
  * Semblance: Telepathy
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 4’9’’, half pink and half brown short hair, heterochromatic blue and pink eyes
  * Pronunciation: Row-me
  * Romantic Interest(s): Jin Belladonna-Schnee and Saffron Adel
  * Theme Song: Why Worry by Set It Off
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Romelle Nora Soliel

  * Nicknames: Love of My Life (by Adolpha)
  * Aura Color: Brown
  * Semblance: Ticking sound in her head that grows louder as she gets closer to a big event, also changing her eyes to appear like clocks when in use
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 4’9’’, half pink and half brown long hair (kept in a ponytail), heterochromatic blue and pink eyes
  * Pronunciation: Row-mel
  * Romantic Interest(s): Adolpha Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: E.T by Katy Perry
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



**The Adels**

Rosemary Fox Adel

  * Nicknames: Rose, Mr. Waiter
  * Aura Color: Rose pink
  * Semblance: Can block Auras from powering Dust
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Fox tail
  * Appearance: 5’6’’, light brown hair, brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: Rose-Mary
  * Romantic Interest(s): Akio Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: Standing Outside the Fire by The Country Gentlemen
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Saffron Pyrrha Adel

  * Nicknames: Saff, Saffy, Defibrillator
  * Aura Color: Scarlet red
  * Semblance: Dust polarity
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Red panda tail
  * Appearance: 5’1’’, dark brown hair, brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: Saf-fron
  * Romantic Interest(s): Romy Soliel and Jin Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: King of the World by WAR*HALL
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Colby Yatsu Adel:

  * Nicknames: Col, By
  * Aura Color: Gray
  * Semblance: Can put Aura in objects
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Squirrel ears
  * Appearance: 5’0’’, red hair, brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: Coal-Bee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Toxic by Britney Spears
  * Sexuality: Gay



**The Alistairs**

Kesey Velvet Alistair

  * Nicknames: Kes
  * Aura Color: White
  * Semblance: Can stick bare skin to any surface
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’2’’, short reddish brown hair, and light gray eyes
  * Pronunciation: Kes-ee
  * Romantic Interest(s): Zohra Ajax
  * Theme Song: Play Dirty by Kevin McAllister
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



**The Ajaxs**

Ilesha Ivy Ajax

  * Nicknames: Il, Illy, Sparky (by Jin), Isha (by Saffron) Electric Piano (EP)
  * Aura Color: Bright yellow
  * Semblance: Can absorb and distribute electricity
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’11’, short hair that can change from brown to blonde (sometimes even white) depending on electricity level land mood
  * Pronunciation: Ee-lee-shaw
  * Romantic Interest(s): None (Formerly Lavey Belladonna-Schnee and Crystal Belladonna-Schnee)
  * Theme Song: Ordinary by Joriah Kwame
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



Zohra Rachel Ajax

  * Nicknames: Zo, Zoh, Ra
  * Aura Color: Orange
  * Semblance: The greater the risk she takes the more aura she regenerates
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’0’’, short black hair, bright blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Zor-a
  * Romantic Interest(s): Kesey Alistair
  * Theme Song: That's My Girl by Fifth Harmony
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Arlen Natalie Ajax

  * Nicknames: Len, Ar
  * Aura Color: Flamingo pink
  * Semblance: The ground shakes to the sound vibrations absorbed by him
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’5’’, short blond hair, and dark brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: Are-lin
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



**The Nikos**

Clover Coco Nikos

  * Nicknames: Clove, Stitch, Cloves
  * Aura Color: Coral red
  * Semblance: Mitigates greatest weakness at the time
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 7’0’’, long blond hair in a ponytail, and green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Clove-er
  * Romantic Interest(s): Auburn Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie
  * Sexuality: Gay



Raelynn Blake Nikos

  * Nicknames: Rae
  * Aura Color: Black
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Dhole ears
  * Appearance: 5’1’’, lots of freckles, bright red hair, bright gray eyes
  * Pronunciation: Rye-lin
  * Romantic Interest(s): Braelyn Vine, Cassandra Vine, and Aella Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: Still Into You by Paramore
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



**The Vines**

Braelyn Alea Vine

  * Nicknames: Brae
  * Aura Color: Red
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Elf owl wings
  * Appearance: 5’1’’, curly black hair, bright blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Bra-lin
  * Romantic Interest(s): Raelynn Nikos and Aella Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: Perfect by Ed Sheeren
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Cassandra Stacey Vine

  * Nicknames: Cass
  * Aura Color: Lime green
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Ragdoll cat tail
  * Appearance: 4’11’, red hair, hazel eyes
  * Pronunciation: Cas-sand-ra
  * Romantic Interest(s): Raelynn Nikos and Aella Belladonna-Schnee
  * Theme Song: Anything For You by Ludo
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



Bentley Terresa Vine

  * Nicknames: Bent, Ben
  * Aura Color: Caramel brown
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 6’0’’, short curly brown hair, black eyes
  * Pronunciation: Bent-lee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Wine Red by The Hush Sound
  * Sexuality: Gay



**The Valkyries**

Abdera Winter Valkyrie

  * Nicknames: Dera
  * Aura Color: Purple
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’10’’, long blond hair in a braid, and bright pink eyes
  * Pronunciation: Ab-dare-a
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Three Million Years by Amber Liu
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



Barrie Yang Valkyrie

  * Nicknames: Bar, Rie
  * Aura Color: Orange
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’3’’, orange hair, blue green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Bear-ee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Birdsong by Good Little Giants
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



**Xylia’s Wayward Family**

Xylia Anderson-Klint

  * Nicknames: Xy, Lia
  * Aura Color: Dark green
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 6’6’’, long black hair, green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Zy-lee-a
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Night of Your Life by WAR*HALL
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Pandora Newman

  * Nicknames: Pan
  * Aura Color: Pastel pink
  * Semblance: Can sense a person's emotion through touch and manipulate them
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’8’’, light brown hair, and green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Pan-door-a
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Mechanical Heart by Jon D
  * Sexuality: Demisexual, panromantic



Vander Rezendes

  * Nicknames: Van, Vanny
  * Aura Color: N/A
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Panther ears
  * Appearance: 5’10’’, dyed purple hair, and light purple eyes
  * Pronunciation: Van-der
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Uptown Girl by Billy Joel
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Torey Bruckman

  * Nicknames: Tor, Tore, Metal head
  * Aura Color: N/A
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): polar bear ears
  * Appearance: 5’1.5’’, short white hair, and bright blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Tore-ee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Diamond Girl by Set It Off
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Quon Knipe

  * Nicknames: Q
  * Aura Color: N/A
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Quol ears
  * Appearance: 5’5’’, short dark brown hair, red eyes
  * Pronunciation: Qu-own
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Waseem Flynn-Johnson

  * Nicknames: Wa
  * Aura Color: N/A
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Raven wings
  * Appearance: 5’3’’, dyed dark green hair, and icy blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Wa-seam
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Upside Down by Set It Off
  * Sexuality: Pansexual



Kylee Sheppard

  * Nicknames: Ky, Ky-Ky (by Ilesha), Lee
  * Aura Color: Bright yellow
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’9’’, short curly black hair, and dark brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: Ky-lee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Love me Less by Max
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Yvenne Hilyard

  * Nicknames: Venne, Ven, Vennie
  * Aura Color: White
  * Semblance: Can cause any wound to move to herself and absorbs half the damage when it does
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 4’11’, short wavy brown hair, heterochromatic purple and blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Ya-vin
  * Romantic Interest(s): None (formerly Hunter Crutchfield)
  * Theme Song: Girl Crush by Little Big Town
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Harleen Hoffman

  * Nicknames: Har, Leen
  * Aura Color: N/A
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’7’’, long orange hair, green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Har-lean
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At the Disco
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Jordyn Freyer

  * Nicknames: Jordy
  * Aura Color: Emerald green
  * Semblance: With description can locate a person
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Corgi ears
  * Appearance: 5’7.5’’, reddish brown hair, and pink eyes
  * Pronunciation: Jor-den
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Someone to You by Banners
  * Sexuality: Trixic (Non binary, prefference for girls)



Hunter Crutchfield

  * Nicknames: Hun
  * Aura Color: N/A
  * Semblance: N/A
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’9’’, short red hair, and green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Hun-ter
  * Romantic Interest(s): None (formerly Yvenne Hilyard)
  * Theme Song: Raised on It by Sam Hunt
  * Sexuality: Unknown



**The McGees**

Dicy McGee

  * Nicknames: Di, Cy
  * Aura Color: Orange
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’9’’, dark brown hair, and dark green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Die-cee
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Another Day by Patent Pending
  * Sexuality: Unknown



Faydell McGee

  * Nicknames: Fay, Dell
  * Aura Color: Cherry red
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Weasel ears
  * Appearance: 5’2’’, burgundy hair, bright red eyes
  * Pronunciation: F-aye-dell
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Perfect Color by SafetySuit
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



**Extraneous**

Cha’ad Smi’ith

  * Nicknames: N/A
  * Aura Color: Blue
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’10’’, blond hair, blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Cha-ad
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Gentleman by Will Jay
  * Sexuality: Gay



Ursy Fernsby

  * Nicknames: Ur, Sy
  * Aura Color: Purple
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’1’’, dark brown hair, and black eyes
  * Pronunciation: Ur-see
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Rockstar by A Great Big World
  * Sexuality: Unknown



Gazella Gentry

  * Nicknames: Gaz
  * Aura Color: Yellow
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): Gazelle horns
  * Appearance: 5’10’’, dyed black hair, and ice blue eyes
  * Pronunciation: Ga-zell-a
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: When I Fall by Barenaked Ladies
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Osvaldo Vega

  * Nicknames: Os, Valdo
  * Aura Color: Green
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’7’’, golden blond hair, brown eyes
  * Pronunciation: Oz-Val-dough
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: The King of Wishful Thinking by Go West
  * Sexuality: Bisexual



Miranda Rish

  * Nicknames: Mir
  * Aura Color: Violet
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’1’’, dark brown hair, light green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Mer-anne-duh
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson
  * Sexuality: Lesbian



Gwendolyn Ozera

  * Nicknames: Gwen
  * Aura Color: Ice blue
  * Semblance: Surprise!
  * Faunus Trait (if applicable): N/A
  * Appearance: 5’3’’, blond, green eyes
  * Pronunciation: Gwen-doe-lin
  * Romantic Interest(s): None
  * Theme Song: Beauty and the Beast by Angela Lansbury
  * Sexuality: Bisexual




	2. Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the break, I had a LOT going on!! Coming back with some more chaps tho!!

Ilesha grinned as she skipped into the dorm room, setting two boxes down on her old bed. She set her hands on her hips and looked around for a moment, considering. It had been a while since they had been at school, and she couldn’t wait for the rest of the semester! And… she had someone new to start the year off with!

As if summoned by the thoughts, Kylee pushed open the door with her shoulder and panted, setting down the box in front of Ilesha on her bed. She looked up, smiling at her with a fond expression. She pushed a bit of her hair behind her ear and glanced around the room.

“So this is where you stay?” Kylee asked.

“Yeah, why?” Ilesha asked, leaning back on her bed and staring at the decorations that Cooper had put up last year.

“I don’t know, just expected…,” Kylee shrugged and looked around, “for it to be a bit more you?”

“Well, it’s a dorm, and four-” Ilesha hesitated, considering, “three of us live here now,” Mavros had moved away after last year, not thinking he could cut it as a Hunter, “which means that it’s important that we all share in the decorations! It’s like… a relationship! You have to give as much as you take!”

Kylee stared at her for a long moment before looking down, flushing a light shade of red.

“Right…,” Kylee was about to continue, but she suddenly realized something, “wait, three? Are you allowed to have a team of less than four people?”

Ilesha hesitated for a long moment, staring off into the space where Mavros had used to stay, where he had used to sleep and laugh…

Ilesha was lost in a world of her own for a long minute before Kylee hesitantly reached out and put a hand on her shoulder.

Ilesha shook herself out of her stupor and she turned to face Kylee with a slightly forced smile.

“Yeah. I… well, it’s not like they can stop us, right? Either way… he’s not coming back.”

Ilesha leaned a bit closer to Kylee and gave her a small smile.

“Are… you okay with that?” Kylee said slowly.

“Sometimes things, and people, change, and… you have to be ready to say goodbye.”

“Were you?”

“I will be.”

Kylee was silent, and Ilesha let out a sigh, placing her head on top of her own.

“You know, you’re a really sweet person, Ky,” Kylee flushed and stared back at her, heart racing, “and a great friend! Thanks for helping me move in!”

Kylee stumbled as Ilesha suddenly pulled away, darting across the room so that she could help Cooper put up another one of his posters.

Kylee let out a sigh and turned to put down a few more boxes, wondering for a moment if she should leave Ilesha to herself and her team. Clearly she would be fine without her right? Cooper and Akio were her only teammates now, and it seemed like both of them were going to be there for her as long as she needed (even if Akio had decided that the spare bed was now going to be permanently Rosemary’s for some reason. Kylee wasn’t sure what was going on with the RSCC dorm, but she was too scared to ask and nobody had told her).

Ilesha, as if sensing Kylee’s unease, turned around, grinning at the other girl with her hair a light shade of blond.

She hurried over and grabbed Kylee by the hands, tugging her closer.

“Thanks for helping me today, it meant a lot.”

Kylee took a shaky breath as Ilesha leaned forward and pressed their foreheads together gently.

“Y-yeah… no problem, anything you need, Ilesha.”

Ilesha moved a bit closer, and Kylee completely forgot their surroundings, meaning that she, unlike Ilesha, didn’t notice that there were two people that were standing in the doorway, eyes wide.

Ilesha tightened her grip on Kylee’s hands and squeezed her eyes shut, pulling the other girl closer.

Kylee let Ilesha guide her head to rest on her shoulder, but Crystal and Lavey watched the entire exchange with shock before they hurried out, sharing a look of complete despair.

“Already?” Crystal muttered.

“She’s… she’s a catch, Cy, what did you expect?” Lavey replied.

“I don’t know… maybe a few months?” Crystal hissed, blinking back tears.

“Crystal, she’s poly and we gave her the perfect reason to move on without any issue. Did you really expect that?”

Lavey shoved the door open and stalked into their dorm room, seeing that Adolpha and Auburn were already there, their significant others by their sides. Clover was setting up a sleeping bag on the ground, and Romelle was sitting in Adolpha’s lap playing with her hair and trying to lean closer. Adolpha was suddenly distracted as her sisters walked in, and she looked rather worried when she saw that they were both crying slightly.

Adolpha was about to ask them what had happened, but she was, this time successfully, distracted by Romelle, and her sisters both went to unpack silently.

-

Jin smiled as she looked at the dorm room again, finding comfort in the familiar appearance. The safety corner was still set up, and she could remember spending hours lying in there with Romy and Saffron, listening to the Adax Band and cuddling up beside both of them. She looked over at the beds, remembering the first time she had told the twins to dismantle the bunk beds, and she rolled her eyes. After a moment, her eyes landed on the window, and she remembered the countless times that Aella had leapt out of it to avoid others (typically herself and Saffron).

Romy and Romelle were both supposed to be unpacking, but Romelle had done all of her work as fast as possible before racing out to find Adolpha, and probably distracting the other girl from her work before she could finish, but Jin didn’t think that there was any way she could stop Romelle from doing what she wanted (especially when it came to Adolpha).

Saffron wrapped her arms around Jin’s waist from behind, putting her head on her shoulder and smiling at her.

“Come here often?”

“This is literally my room.”

“I meant my arms.”

Jin hesitated for a moment before she let out a laugh and leaned closer to her girlfriend, rolling her eyes.

“Come on, that one was good,” Saffron said, raising an eyebrow and letting her sunglasses slip slightly.

“It was  _ awful, _ ” Jin smiled, “but it was from you, so I’ll let you slide.”

Saffron grinned and pressed a kiss to her cheek before pulling away and setting up the bed, which Romy was subtly trying to decide whether they would all be sharing again this year.

Jin was about to speak to her, but she was interrupted as Aella dropped out of the air in front of her, grinning like an idiot.

“Hey, Jin, do you mind if I go? I already unpacked and got everything ready, I wanna help see Brae, Rae, and Cass off before they go to the forest!”

“Uh, yeah, su-”

“Great! Thanks!” Aella threw herself out of the window, again, and soared overhead, grinning all the way.

Jin shouldn’t have been surprised.

-

“Son of a-” Kylee cut herself off, glancing at Ilesha for a moment and blushing for a moment.

Ilesha spun around quickly at the words, concern on her face.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Ilesha asked.

Kylee shrugged, moving to hide her hand behind her back.

“It’s not a big deal, just a little scratch.”

Ilesha gently took her hand and raised it to examine it, frowning.

“Why isn’t it healing? Is your Aura broken?”

Kylee frowned.

“Wh- Ilesha, I don’t have one.”

Ilesha’s eyes widened, and she stepped closer, putting one hand on Kylee’s face.

“Well, don’t worry, I can fix that,” Ilesha said, grinning and letting her eyes fall shut. After a moment, her Aura was visible, blazing golden around the two of them. Kylee waited for her own Aura to appear, but the golden color just stretched further to surround herself, healing her cut. “Hey! Your color matches mine!” Ilesha excitedly leaned closer, and Kylee froze.

She was struggling to remember everything about Auras, but all she could recall was that it was a reflection of a person’s soul.

Was her own soul betraying her?!

Ilesha didn’t seem to notice, however, just grinning. Kylee didn’t notice that Ilesha’s hair lightened a shade, matching that of their Auras.

Kylee looked down when Ilesha pulled away, grinning.

“Well, thanks for helping me move some stuff in!”

“Yeah. It… was no big deal, really,” Kylee shrugged and glanced at the door.

“Hey, if you’re not busy, do you wanna stay over and watch a movie with us? We’re going to be watching a musical!” Ilesha said excitedly.

Kylee didn’t know if she could handle watching a movie, let alone a musical, with Ilesha (who, let's face it, would likely be leaning against her the whole time and trying to make her sing), but when she looked at Ilesha, she was immediately a goner.

“S-sure.”

“Great! Tonight is one of my favorites!” Ilesha beamed in excitement, grabbing Kylee by the hand and dragging her over to the couch. She flopped down, pulling Kylee after her, who struggled to make sure she didn’t fall into Ilesha’s lap. “I love Tangled! It’s got  _ everything, _ Ky! Violence, frying pans, cute animals, and the  _ perfect _ romance! A swashbuckling rogue thief is changed by the heart of a naive blond idiot!” Ilesha grinned over at her. “How could I resist?”

Kylee froze.

“I-uh… y-yeah… I love them,” Kylee hadn’t realized how much until just then, “but… I think you should give yo-” Kylee flushed a bright shade of red, stumbling over her words, but Ilesha didn’t seem to notice, “Rapunzel more credit. She’s resourceful, cunning, and brave. Just because she sees the best in people,” Kylee tentatively let her hand graze Ilesha’s, and she took it, “doesn’t mean she’s stupid.”

Ilesha stared at her for a long moment.

“Thanks, Ky…”

-

Yvenne glanced up at the sound of footsteps, and she flushed a bright shade of red when she saw that Pandora was walking by.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heartbeat enough so that she could speak.

“Another patrol?” Yvenne asked, though she regretted it immediately for how awkward it sounded.

“No, Jordy’s picking me up to go out,” Pandora replied, giving her a small smile.

Jordy? Going out?

Was that why Pandora wasn’t wearing her uniform?

Where could they being going out to? What  _ kind _ of going out?!

Yvenne was about to ask who that was, but there was a knock on the door, and she fell silent.

Pandora’s smile turned into a grin and she opened the door excitedly.

At the doorway, there was a tall figure that stood a fair bit above Yvenne, but was noticeably shorter than Pandora. They had medium length hair that went down to about halfway to their shoulders, though it was tied back in a ponytail, and a few of the auburn strands hung down in front of their face. On top of their head were a set of small, almost imperceptible, corgi ears. But what really caught Yvenne’s attention were their vibrant pink eyes, which were trained on Pandora.

“Hey, Dory,” Jordyn said, grinning up at her.

Pandora smiled and waved, not even noticing that Yvenne was watching the entire exchange with growing interest, leaning on the arm of the chair as she tried to get a better look at the pair.

“You ready to go?”

Pandora nodded, running a hand through her hair and fixing her jacket.

“Yeah, I-”

“Jordyn!”

The two turned to see Xylia, who was grinning as she saw Jordyn.

“Hey, good to see you,” Jordyn said, shaking her hand and glancing back at Pandora, who rolled her eyes fondly.

“You two going out? I didn’t think that Pandora had a shift today,” Xylia said.

“I don’t, we’re going to lunch,” Pandora said, shrugging.

“Yeah, just going to lunch, nothing big like,” they hesitated, “uh… shootouts?”

Xylia stared for a moment.

“Good?”

“One would think,” Pandora replied, rolling her eyes.

She reached over and grabbed them by the hand.

“Stop harassing them,” she said, tugging her partner out of the apartment and closing the door while Jordyn waved at Xylia.

“Who was that?” Yvenne asked as soon as the door was shut.

Xylia jumped at the words.

“Shit, Yvenne, I didn’t even see you there. What are you doing? Lurking in the shadows and watching her like a creep? Thought you were better than that…,” she started to mutter to herself, too quiet for Yvenne to hear, “Saffron better look out for more photographers if she keeps this up…”

“I’m not… whatever, just… who was that?”

“Pandora’s partner,” Xylia said, shrugging.

Yvenne’s blood ran cold.

“Like… as in her  _ romantic _ partner?” she asked in a quiet voice.

Xylia looked over.

“No, I meant police partner, but…,” Xylia trailed off.

“But what?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Then why did you say something?!”

“It’s just… the way that they look at her isn’t  _ quite _ what I would consider platonic, but… who even knows with Pandora.”

“What do you mean?”

“Yvenne, do you remember what demisexual is?”

“Not really…”

“It’s like the trust issues of sexuality. She’s not going to like anyone for at least six months after meeting them. And that’s just when the  _ crush _ starts, you never know when she’ll actually do something about it.”

Yvenne was definitely  _ not _ counting the months since she had met Pandora.

“Does she like…”

“She’s pan, and they’re non-binary, so in theory, yeah.”

“How long have they known each other?”

Xylia hesitated for the first time answering a question.

“Yvenne, sometimes you don’t want to know the answers to the questions you ask.”


	3. Background

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So sorry about the random break, school was getting to be a lot, so... anyways, be ready for updates! That is, anyone who's back :P

Jordyn took a deep breath, glancing at Pandora, who was still holding their hand in her own. She didn’t seem to notice, but they knew that wasn’t true, considering it had taken almost four months of being her partner to be allowed to touch her, so every single action was clearly calculated on her part.

Pandora pulled them closer as they neared the restaurant, and Jordyn let out a breath as they stepped inside.

Jordyn took the seat across from her, their heart racing. They could remember the first time that they met, not because it was relevant to the situation, but because they could remember when their life changed forever.

_ / _

_ Jordyn was just starting out as an officer when they met. They were a little bit older than Pandora, but not by much, and they were paired up almost immediately. _

_ Their first image of Pandora had been a bit… odd, but it was endearing all the same. Pandora had been… _

_ Well, she’d been, in essence, Pandora. She was jumpy, skittish, and she watched Jordyn like they might attack at any given moment and she had to be ready. _

_ Of course she hadn’t shaken their hand, which had made Jordyn feel awkward as their hand hung in the air without any response. _

_ It hadn’t taken long for them to get to the training room (though only because it had been the only thing that Jordyn had offered for them to do that Pandora had actually responded to). _

_ Pandora had… well, that had been the moment that she had changed right in front of their eyes. She suddenly looked at ease, in control of herself and the area around her. _

_ Jordyn had lasted all of a minute in the spar before she had knocked them over, leaving them sprawled out and staring up at her. _

_ Pandora grinned, finally smiling at them, and the light shown down on her, illuminating her so that she had an almost angelic glow about her. She stretched for a moment, popping her back, before hesitating. _

_ Finally, she reached one hand down, and Jordyn slowly took it, letting themselves be pulled to their feet. _

_ Pandora gave them another shy smile and squeezed their hand before letting go. Later that afternoon, Jordyn would learn just how much that small gesture meant later, after Pandora accidentally flipped another officer onto their back after they touched her shoulder and she freaked out. _

_ / _

_ It was probably that moment that Jordyn should have realized that they were in too deep. _

_ / _

_ It was a cold night in the city, and Jordyn shivered. They were on patrol with Pandora, and they supposed that they should have brought their jacket, but they hadn’t thought about it, perhaps because they were rather distracted by the details of tonight. _

_ Pandora glanced over, her eyes confused as they darted over her partner. It took her a moment of almost robotic calculation. After her consideration, she slipped off her jacket and held it out toward them. _

_ They hesitated, glancing between her and the clothing. _

_ “Thanks,” they muttered, putting it on quickly and trying to ignore the way she continued to watch them. _

_ On occasion, her gaze could be… unnerving, the way she would look at someone without so much as blinking, gathering as much information about them as possible. _

_ It made them feel like an open book, like all of their secrets were laid bare before her for her to scrutinize. _

_ “Are you alright?” Pandora asked. _

_ “Yeah, just cold,” they lied, tucking their hands into the pockets of the jacket. _

_ Pandora frowned, her robotic appearance slipping after a moment as confusion filled her expression. _

_ She knew that there was something going on, she just wasn’t capable of figuring out what. _

_ Jordyn wished they had the guts to explain it to her, to help Pandora in a world filled with emotions she couldn’t identify, but they were too much of a coward. _

_ / _

_ Jordyn rolled their eyes as Pandora drummed her fingers on the desk, clearly impatient to get back home, but she still had two hours left in her shift. _

_ Jordyn hesitated for a moment, almost putting on their jacket, but knew that they couldn’t. _

_ “You in a hurry?” Jordyn asked. Their shift had just ended, and they really needed to get home for a good night’s sleep, something they hadn’t gotten for a few weeks (which was completely unrelated to Pandora, mind you). _

_ “Wanted to get home early, it’s my mother’s birthday and I wanted to celebrate.” _

_ “You two are close, right?” _

_ “Yeah, she’s…,” Pandora hesitated, “not really my mother, but… despite that, she’s better than any other one I could have.” _

_ Jordyn covered their mouth as they yawned and set their coat back down on the back of her chair. _

_ “Don’t worry, Dory, I can cover for you.” _

_ “Are you sure?” Pandora asked, her head picking up immediately. Her eyes were filled with excitement and she sat up straighter. _

_ “Yeah, don’t worry about it,” Jordyn said, trying not to blush. _

_ “Thank you, Jordy!” Pandora said, jumping to her feet _

_ They tried to respond, but Pandora threw her arms around them in a tight hug, pulling them closer. _

_ They sucked in a breath, fumbling for a moment before hesitantly putting their arms around her. _

_ She gave them a tight squeeze before pulling back and giving them one last grin. _

_ “Thanks, Jordy! You’re the best!” _

_ She gave them a pat on the shoulder before dashing out. _

_ / _

_ Jordyn hated the cliché. They really did. _

_ Except they were a sucker for romance and especially the clichés. _

_ Except when they were in one with the girl they had a crush on. And especially when that girl was clearly incapable of understanding other people’s emotions and was right next to them. _

_ Pandora reached her hand out and put it on theirs, squeezing it in her own. _

_ “You alright?” she whispered. _

_ Jordyn gulped after a moment. _

_ “Yeah, it’s nothing.” _

_ Pandora stared at them. _

_ “Okay.” _

_ Pandora was dressed in a nice dress tonight, and they were in a suit. Once again, they were saying they hated the cliché, because it was making them panic as they stared at their partner. _

_ Clichés existed for a reason, and Jordyn could understand why. _

_ They were both undercover at this restaurant, and they were supposed to be pretending that they were out on a date. The two seemed rather convincing, and Pandora was smiling at them. _

_ Jordyn knew that their partner could feel what they felt, but from her expression she clearly couldn’t understand what it was. _

_ Jordyn just gave her a smile and pulled back, trying to watch the criminal they were targeting out of the corner of their eyes. _

_ / _

In essence, Jordyn had fallen in love with their partner, and knew that it was a stupid move. They knew that they shouldn’t have, knew that it would only end in heartbreak, but that didn’t stop their heart from wanting what it wanted.

“You’re distracted.”

“Yeah, I am,” they said. There was no point in lying. Not only was Pandora good at telling, and could at any point if she touched them, if they were doing so.

“Why?”

Jordyn shook their head and gave her a smile, but it was slightly forced.

Pandora tilted her head to the side just a bit.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nothing more than usual.”

“What’s the usual?”

Pandora blinked at them with big green eyes.

“Depends.”

“If the usual is circumstantial, then, in essence, it is not the usual.”

Jordyn couldn’t help but smile fondly. They couldn’t stop themself when she said things like that, sounding so sure of herself and yet so confused by something that some found so simple.

“I guess you’re right.”

Pandora reached one hand forward to put on top of theirs, but they pulled away, and she shrunk back, her eyes looking slightly hurt. She didn’t let it show for long, looking down and starting to take a bite of her food.

“Pandora, I’m-”

“This restaurant is better than I remember it being,” Pandora said quietly, cutting them off.

They knew that she was shutting down emotionally, that to get back to where they had been would be an arduous journey filled with regret for their one action of yanking their hand away.

They either had to suffer those consequences or try to fix them now.

They thought for just a moment before catching her hand slowly, holding it in their own.

Pandora hardly flinched, but it was there, and she wanted them from the corner of her eye with a bit of distrust in them. She smiled thinly, and they knew that they still had to attempt to rectify their mistake.

Pandora was silent as she let the emotions rush over her. She smiled just a bit and let herself relax until that same unfamiliar feeling overwhelmed her, the one that had been working its way through Jordyn’s heart for the last few months. She wasn’t sure what was wrong with her friend, but now it suddenly didn’t seem alien.

It was something she recognized. She let go of their hand, and Jordyn worried for a moment that they had messed up, but Pandora had a confused look on her face rather than an upset one.

She put her hand back on top of Jordyn’s.

Then she took it away.

She put it back, put it back on, and repeated the process multiple times.

“Is there something you’re trying to figure out over there?” they asked playfully.

“Indeed there is,” she said, tapping their hand again and pulling it away quickly.

“May I ask what it might be?”

“I’m not entirely sure as of yet, you’ll be updated when I’ve finished my investigation, Jordy,” she said.

She looked so serious that they couldn’t help but laugh quietly.

A surge of fondness filled their chest, and Pandora felt it as she touched their hand.

She pulled away and looked up at Jordyn, frowning in confusion for a moment. They were smiling at her with a soft expression in their eyes.

She couldn’t help but feel the need to smile back, and her chest felt the same as it had when she was touching Jordyn’s hand.

She touched it again, and nothing seemed different, except for a wave of anxiety, which she didn’t know the cause of.

She took a moment to think, rubbing her thumb up and down their hand idly as she thought, continuing to stare at them.

Their face grew red, and Pandora could feel the embarrassment.

Finally, all of the information and emotions slid into place, and she blinked. It reminded her of how Xylia felt when she looked at her children, but in a more insistent way, in a more… intense and heated manner than she had thought.

That meant it was different, and instead of the love that Xylia felt for her children, that her siblings and herself felt for each other, was different than what Jordyn was feeling.

That meant that the only type left was…

And if that’s how they felt, and she felt the same…

Pandora blinked for a moment and removed her hand, confirming that the feelings were identical.

“Jordyn?”

“Yeah?” they asked, sounding slightly breathless.

“I think it’s time we left the restaurant.”

“Now? But we only just got our food-”

Pandora stood up and gave them a smile, and they couldn’t help but stare.

“We can stay if you want, but I think that you’d prefer my alternative.”

They couldn’t help but follow.

Pandora was rather awkward, that was perhaps an understatement, and didn’t understand most social situations that she was put through, and Jordy couldn’t help but find it cute when she did some of her rather odd social cues.

Thus, they followed her out of the restaurant, paying at the front, and the two stopped when they reached their car.

Pandora grinned when they got inside, and she leaned closer.

“I thought this would be rather abnormal and uncomfortable to do in public.”

“What?” Jordyn asked, blushing slightly.

She leaned closer and slowly put her hand on top of theirs.

She was so close that they could barely breathe.

They couldn’t help but think she was trying to… but that didn’t make sense. Pandora was rather… eccentric, and she wasn’t trying to-

“Jordy?”

“Y-yeah?”

“Can I kiss you?”

Jordyn hesitated, eyes going wide.

“W-what?!”

“You look upset… but I can tell that it’s the good kind?”

Jordyn laughed and covered their mouth with one hand for a moment before tearing their hand away.

“Y-yeah… To the first question! And the second, I suppose, but mostly the first!”

Pandora smiled and leaned closer.

Jordyn had wanted to have this opportunity for as long as they could remember, and it still didn’t feel real as they carefully set their hands on top of her waist, trying to be as gentle as possible.

Pandora pulled back after a moment, and Jordyn almost couldn’t believe it had happened, grinning at them.

“Did…”

Pandora nodded and leaned closer, pressing her forehead against theirs.

“I love you,” she breathed.

“Really?”

“I’m kind of surprised too,” she said with a laugh.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Honestly? I never thought I’d get this far into a relationship.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better… I love you too.”

She kissed them again.


	4. Who's That?

Saffron was on her way to school and, having wanted to take her motorcycle out for one last joyride before she was subjected to  _ learning _ , which was disgusting considering she already knew everything she needed to know to become a huntress, in her opinion. After all, she’d shown that in the tournament.

She sped up down the road but hesitated when she heard sirens behind her.

She looked over her shoulder and saw that a car with flashing red and blue lights was behind her, and she groaned.

Really?!

She pulled over and stopped her motorcycle.

The car stopped, and a woman stepped out from the passenger seat. She was familiar, and Saffron frowned a bit, trying to place her. She wasn’t in uniform, but she pulled out her badge and set it on her belt as she walked over.

“Evening, Officer,” Saffron said, smirking and leaning onto the front of her motorcycle.

“Evening. Do you have any weapons in the vehicle?”

“Only me.”

“Ma’am, please step off of the bike.”

Saffron was shocked for a moment before she pushed herself up.

“Listen, it was-”

“Do you know how fast you were going?”

“Not really.”

“Too fast.”

“Oh.”

The woman pulled out a pad of paper from her pocket, and Saffron’s eyes went wide.

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on, there’s no need for that,” Saffron said, waving her hands a bit.

“I believe that there is, considering what you did was illegal.”

“But, you know, I could handle it. You know me, right?” Saffron let her sunglasses slide down some and gave her best grin.

“You’re Yvenne’s friend, correct?”

“Yeah, but I’m also, you know, Saffron Adel! I’m sure I can handle a little bit of speed.”

She smirked and leaned against her motorcycle a little bit.

“It’s not a matter of whether you can,” the cop ripped the paper off of the pad and pushed it at Saffron’s chest, almost making her stumble back, “it’s whether others can. I thought a huntress would be aware of that more than anyone else.”

“W-well-”

The woman, who Saffron suddenly remembered was Pandora, she’d seen the other girl call Yvenne, gave her a small look, raising an eyebrow.

“Something else you want to say, Ms. Adel?”

“S-sorry…”

Pandora’s lip twitched into an almost smile.

“The fine paid is more than apology enough, Ms. Adel.”

Saffron watched her as she turned to leave, heading back to the car. She blinked repeatedly, standing there until the woman opened her door and looked up, seeming slightly confused as to why Saffron was still there. She gave a small, somewhat awkward, smile.

Saffron smiled too, not noticing that her sunglasses had slipped down her face and started to fall. Saffron stumbled and tried to catch it, forgetting about her semblance as she did so.

The car drove off, and Saffron could do nothing but awkwardly wave, clutching her sunglasses tightly in a fist.

Saffron took a deep breath, glancing down at her ticket, the messy scrawl of Pandora’s words on it.

It took a moment before she pulled out her scroll.

Saffron: Your friend just pulled me over and gave me a ticket.

Yvenne: Pandora?!

Saffron: Yeah

Yvenne: Sorry about that!

Saffron: Don’t be, it was amazing.

Yvenne: It was?

Saffron: You didn’t tell me she was a badass!

Yvenne: She is, isn’t she?!

Saffron: Yes! She gave no shits when she pulled me over!

Yvenne: That sounds like her.

Saffron: You’re going to have to introduce us again because that was amazing!

Yvenne: Sure! Yeah that sounds great!

Saffron put her scroll back in her pocket and climbed onto her motorcycle, for some reason her mind still on Pandora as she slipped the speeding ticket into her pocket.


	5. Subtext

Yvenne heard the door open and she looked up from the couch, her eyes going wide when she saw that Pandora was walking inside. Pandora had on her slightly off smile, but Yvenne could tell that she was genuinely excited. Her own face split into a grin and she was about to greet her, but her voice died when she saw that Pandora was holding someone else’s hand.

Jordyn was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorway, their hand linked with Pandora’s.

“I had a good time,” Pandora said, her smile broadening some.

“Y-yeah, me too, especially when you pulled me out of the restaurant like you were going to abduct me.”

“Yeah!” Pandora said, clearly not picking up on the sarcasm. Jordyn stared at her lovingly, and Yvenne felt her throat go dry.

“You know what else I enjoyed?”

Pandora’s eyes grew calculating for a moment before she smiled and leaned forward, pressing her lips against Jordyn’s.

Yvenne couldn’t stop staring, but Xylia vaulted over the couch and raced forward, throwing her shoulder at Jordyn and trying to dislodge them.

Jordyn called out and pulled away, but Pandora caught her mother, stopping her before she could hit her new partner. Romantic, that is, considering they had been other other types of partner to her before.

“What’s going on?!” Xylia snapped. “Get your hands off her, come on, move!”

Jordyn pulled closer to Pandora and tried not to get punched by a wayward fist.

“Calm down, mom,” Pandora said gently with a small smile, “this… is my partner.”

“Yeah, I know!”

“No, I mean my  _ partner _ ,” Pandora said.

Xylia blinked.

“You two are…  _ together _ ?”

“Yes.”

“So you finally pick someone and you pick  _ them _ ?!”

“Yes.”

“Aww, I’m so proud!” Xylia cried, grabbing Pandora around the waist and picking her up, spinning her around in a circle.

“Thanks,” she whispered, shoving her face into the other girl’s neck. Xylia smiled and pulled her daughter closer, not even seeming to notice that Yvenne had stumbled out of the room, blinking rapidly and trying not to look back at Pandora and her… partner.

She fell onto her bed and looked up at the ceiling, heart thumping painfully in her chest. She couldn’t believe that she… couldn’t believe that she was so disappointed and shocked that Pandora had herself a romantic interest that she was interested in as well… Yvenne shook her head. She should have known better than to fall for the girls she had, should have known that she didn’t deserve them, couldn't even make their heads turn.

Yvenne sighed and rolled over, shoving her face into the pillow and trying not to cry.

She had finally been able to accept who she was, who she was attracted to, and it still wasn’t enough.

Made you think whether the problem was the lies… or her.

-

Kylee looked up as she walked into the sparring room, letting herself steal a glance at Ilesha, who was beaming at her with excitement.

“You said you wanted to watch me spar sometime, so…,” Ilesha shimmied her shoulders up and down with a grin, “now’s a time,  _ and _ there’s a sparring room, so it just seems perfect!”

“You seem perfect,” Kylee whispered.

“What’d you say?” Ilesha asked, looking away from where her sparring partner was getting ready.

“Nothing!” Kylee cried, flushing a bright shade of red and looking at anywhere other than Ilesha.

“You sure? You can tell me anything, you know?”

“Yeah, I know, I just…,” Kylee considered for just a moment before faking a smile, “didn’t say anything.”

“Wel-”

“Come  _ on _ , Sparky! Are we going to get this over with or not?!” Jin called, stalking over and crossing her arms in front of her. Her giant hammer was in front of her, and she looked a little bit concerned.

Kylee watched as Ilesha all but skipped over with a beaming smile, about to start the fight, and Kylee found herself wondering what the other girl’s weapon could be.

Maybe she had a sword, or a bow and arrow, maybe a crossbow, or-

Ilesha pulled back her jacket and pulled a small key chain off of her belt and went to point it at the other girl.

Kylee blinked and then her gaze shot over to where Jin was standing, her hammer raised in front of her.

The fight was about to start, and Kylee shot forward, unable to stop herself, and landed in front of Ilesha, holding her hands up in front of her and squeezing her eyes shut. She wouldn’t be surprised if Jin would hit her just because she could.

“Ky, is something wrong?” Ilesha asked gently.

“You don’t have a weapon and she might take your head off with that hammer that’s bigger than my entire body!”

Jin scowled at her, but Ilesha cooed.

“Aw, Ky, don’t worry, I’m going to be alright, I’m sure that I’ll be fine. In fact, I’ve beaten her countless times!”

“But…,” Kylee hesitated.

“I can take care of myself,” Ilesha said, grabbing her hand.

“But I don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”

“She doesn’t need you to protect her,” Jin hissed.

“I’m aware that she doesn’t need me, Jin!” Kylee snapped. Ilesha frowned in confusion and tightened her grasp on the other girl’s hand.

“Wh-”

“But if I can help, and make sure she doesn’t get hit in the face, that would be  _ very _ good!” Kylee finished.

Ilesha didn’t completely understand what had just gone down, but she knew that Kylee was worried and upset.

“What’s wrong, Ky-Ky?”

Kylee flushed.

“Y-you’re going to get hurt like that.”

“I went pretty far into the tournament last year, and I’ve improved a lot and-”

“And I saw your replay from last year, and you got beat because your weapon, though amazing, doesn’t have the kind of range that you need. You’re… you’re  _ fantastic _ , and… you just need a weapon that reflects that.”

Ilesha smiled and pushed a bit of her hair back behind her ears.

“Maybe you’re right.”

Kylee realized that Ilesha hadn’t let go of her hand, and she tried to hide that she was blushing.

“You watched my fights?” Ilesha asked suddenly.

“Uh…”

“All of them?” Jin questioned, smirking.

Kylee knew that she was talking about the fight after which Ilesha had gained two new girlfriends.

“Yes.”

“Good,” Jin whispered.

Kylee didn’t look at her.

“Well, maybe you could help me find a new weapon? Or, well, make one I suppose would be the better term.”

“Sure… yeah, I guess,” Kylee said, giving her a fond smile.

Ilesha pulled her closer and put her free hand on her waist, making Kylee freeze.

“Great!”

Ilesha dashed down the hall, dragging her along with her.

“O-oh, we’re doing this now?”

“That alright?”

“Anything for you.”

“Great! Let’s go!”

Kylee wondered if she was going to be able to survive this crush.


	6. Assistant

“What’s this?”

“Don’t touch that,” Vander snapped, pulling her sticky notes away from the other girl.

“Aw, come on, let me get that for you,” Harleen said, sitting down on the desk and leaning toward her.

“You touch my sticky notes and I swear to the brothers I will cut your hand off.”

Harleen pulled her hand back slowly.

“Got it… so, do you want me to clean up for you, take note-”

“I want you to get me coffee and stay the fuck out of my way,” Vander hissed, pulling away and stalking off.

“Come on, I’m sure I could  _ finish _ some things you’ve been neglecting,” Harleen said, running one hand against the desk.

“And I’m sure I could make your job here finished as well,” Vander replied.

Harleen winced.

“So… how do you take your coffee?”

“Black like my soul.”

“So milk?”

“You bring me milk and I’ll drown you in it.”

“Okay…”

Harleen pushed herself up off of Vander’s desk and trailed off through the doors, looking over her shoulder and seeing that Vander was flipping through her papers idly, clearly trying to find what she had been working on.

On one hand, Harleen was happy to have a steady job _and_ a place to live. On the other… was it _really_ too much to ask for to have some fun sexual tension with her boss to keep things lively?!

Apparently, the answer was yes.

She let the door close behind her with a small sigh.

-

“Aella, I really don’t wanna this.”

“Awww, come  _ on _ , Cy! You said you wanted to liven up and try new things after Ilesha!”

Crystal grimaced.

“No,  _ you _ said that! I told you to go fuck yourself! And then Raelynn volunteered to do it herself and I agreed to come with you so I wouldn’t have to look at her smug fucking face anymore.”

Aella smiled.

“Yeah, I still don’t know what she meant by that, but I’m glad that it worked!”

Crystal grimaced.

“Now get on the bike!”

“No!”

“Get on the bike, Cy, or I’m bringing Raelynn out here.”

“Please don’t.”

“Then get on the bike!”

Crystal grimaced and slowly climbed onto the bike behind Aella, grabbing her tightly around the waist and clinging to Aella, who let out a cheer of excitement.

“Can we just get this over with?”

“Oh, it’ll be more than that!”

Aella revved the motorcycle before taking off, Crystal grabbing her tightly and crying out.

Aella let out a cheer and shot down the street

“AELLA, PULL OVER!” Crystal shouted.

Aella didn’t listen, tilting over to the side and causing the bike to speed around a corner at impossible speed. The tires skidded against the ground, losing friction with the road, and starting to lift. Crystal squealed, but Aella made a quick gust of wind solid enough for the bike to find purchase and keep from crashing. The sharp corner ended with a laughing Aella, her hair thrown back in the wind as she cheered, and… well, one could say it was Crystal, but it looked more like a cat that had just fallen down five floors and couldn’t believe it landed on its feet, tail poofed out behind her.

The tires slammed back against the ground, having come completely separate from the road, and the driver grinned.

Crystal, on the other hand, did not find this as entertaining as Aella, and she was trying to get her to pull over.

-

Harleen huffed and pushed the door open with her back, holding a black coffee in one hand and a clipboard in the other.

“You have an ap-”

“Yes, I know, at four.”

“Actually,” Harleen looked up with a small smirk, “it’s at three.”

Vander stopped where she was, almost dropping her pen.

“What?”

“Maybe you  _ do _ need an assistant after all.”

“Receptionist.”

“Assistant, receptionist, your other half, same difference.”

“Definitely not, receptionist.”

Harleen rolled her eyes.

“You’ve got a call on line one.”

“Who is it?”

“Potential client.”

“What about line two?”

“Xylia.”

“Hang up on her, I don’t want to hear it.”

“She said it was about Pandora.”

Vander grabbed her phone and turned it to line two.

“Hello?”

“Van, Pandora finally asked out Jordyn.”

Vander couldn’t stop herself from grinning.

“You want me to pick something special up for dinner tonight?”

“And balloons.”

“That’ll be my  _ top _ priority.”

After a moment, she hung up and put the phone down. She smirked.

“Harleen?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Why does it always sound sexual when you say that?! Don’t answer that. I need you to get dinner and balloons on the way home.”

-

Aella skidded around another corner, seeing that there was traffic in front of them.

“Hold on!”

“I WOULDN’T HAVE TO HOLD ON IF YOU’D PULL OVER!”

“Not happening!”

Aella sped up, making Crystal scream, and as they neared the top of a hill, Aella pressed a button on the side of her motorcycle.

Gliders shot out of the side of the motorcycle and Crystal shouted, grabbing onto her sister tightly.

Aella sped up and launched off of the hill, using a gust of wind to catch them.

The pair, and the bike, soared over the traffic and people watched them in disbelief.

Aella was laughing enthusiastically, but Crystal was still screaming.

“Are you INSANE?!”

“Quite possibly!”

Crystal shrieked.

Aella let out another laugh as she leaned to the side and went for a loop-the-loop, Crystal wrapping her tail around Aella in an attempt to secure herself as much as possible.

Aella honestly didn’t know what her problem was.

-

Harleen leaned back at her desk, propping her feet up on the table.

“So what exactly do you  _ do _ here?”

“Does it affect your ability to be my receptionist?”

“Not really but I’m even more intrigued now.”

Vander sighed, rubbing at her face.

“I’m an agent.”

“Like a spy?!”

“No.”

“Oh.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Gonna tell me what type?”

“Talent.” 

“So like… singers and stuff?”

“Yes. I usually try to work with kids, get them the opportunities they need.”

Harleen stared at her.

“Wow, that’s…”

“Lame, I know. More your speed…,” she reached down and grabbed a pamphlet, tossing it at Harleen, who barely caught it, “is my  _ first _ client.”

She looked at the pamphlet.

Was… was that…

“The Thunder Bears?! No way! You have  _ them _ ?!”

“Let’s just say I have some… connections with the band.”

-

Aella let the bike float to the ground, gently cresting the road and letting the motorcycle pull to a stop at the front of the school.

“So, did you like your ride?!” Aella asked excitedly.

“Am I dead?”

“Probably not!”

Crystal stumbled off the bike quickly, almost falling over and looking altogether terrified.

Well, at least she wasn’t thinking about Ilesha anymore!

Aella skipped off of her bike and laughed, going to the door.

It opened, revealing all three of her girlfriends to be waiting there.

She found herself beaming and she hurried forward.

“Hey!”

“Did you scare her?” Braelyn asked.

“Yeah,” Aella said sadly.

“I told you she would be,” Cassandra whispered.

“I was just hoping that she wouldn’t get too scared,” Aella continued, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Aw, it’s okay, she’s just weak, we wouldn’t get scared,” Raelynn said gently.

Aella grinned and leaned against her.

“I might just have to show you some of the improvements I made to it!”

“Sounds great, but-”

Aella took a moment to think, grinning.

“You have to get ready to go into the woods and almost die, right?”

“Yep! It’s going to be cheery!”


	7. Partners

Zohra thought this entire thing was bullshit.

Like who decides what team you get onto by throwing you into the woods at high speeds and seeing who the fuck you made eye contact with?! This sounded like a lawsuit waiting to happen, but to be fair, so was most of the stuff going on in the school.

She dashed through the forest, not watching where she was going closely. As she did so, she felt her Aura starting to charge up further, the compounded small risks building up her reserves.

She was so distracted that she didn’t even realize who she was running toward until it was too late.

Braelyn let out a startled shriek, collapsing toward the ground as a form slammed into her.

“Hey, watch it!” she snapped, pushing herself up some. Zohra did the same, and the two met gazes.

Zohra huffed and raised an eyebrow while Braelyn smirked.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said with a small smirk. “Didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to, I suppose literally, run into you.”

Zohra stared at her unblinkingly.

“Geez, rough crowd…”

Zohra rolled her eyes and pushed herself to her feet.

“Come on, we have to get to the relics, I am  _ not _ going to let Kesey get there before me and deal with that piece of shit’s smugness.”

“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”

“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

Braelyn held back a laugh, pushing herself to her feet and having to jog to keep up with the other girl.

-

Kesey pulled herself up onto a nearby tree, her hands sticking to it as she hung from the limb, smirking.

“Hello there,” she whispered, eyes locking on Abdera through the forestry. She considered calling out to the other girl, but thought that it would be better if she just bumped into her “accidentally.”

She dropped from the tree, turning off her semblance, and was about to dash through the trees, but a loud curse stopped her.

Instead of her feet finding purchase with the ground, she looked down and found that there was a woman she had landed on, staring up at her with a dark glare.

“What the fuck is your problem, man?!”

The two locked eyes, and Kesey cursed in her head.

“Not much to say. My mother left when I was young, I had to pick up the pieces.”

The girl stared at her.

“Get off of me!” she snapped, pushing the other girl away.

Kesey latched onto her hand, turning on her semblance in her hand, and pulled the other girl to her feet.

“Nice to meet you, the name’s Kesey!”

The other woman paused for a moment and watched her.

“Gwendolyn,” she said slowly.

Kesey shook her hand vigorously before dragging the other girl off.

“Now come on, I need to get a relic before my girlfriend does.”

“You two sound like you have a very healthy relationship.”

-

Arlen took a deep breath and pushed his headphones into his ears, changing songs.

He bobbed his head up and down as his favorite death metal album, looking around the clearing for a moment before heading off deeper into the forest, wondering if he was going to get to the relics before he had the chance to find a partner. He had been in the greenery for a few minutes now, and he popped in his headphones, not noticing that there were footsteps behind him.

“Hey! Kid!” a voice shouted. “You  _ do _ know how stupid it is to go out here with headphones, right?”

Arlen jumped at the sound, spinning around and immediately letting his semblance wash over him and into the ground, letting it shake uproariously.

The woman that had called out to him let out a loud curse, jumping into the air and grabbed onto a tree branch above her, her arm stretching impossibly far as she pulled herself into the air, wrapping her entire body against the tree, pulling herself improbably close.

“Hey! Mind not killing me, partner?!”

Arlen stopped his semblance immediately, pulling his headphones out of his ears.

“Sorry!” he said, dashing over and trying to position himself below her. “I just panicked when I heard something!”

The woman let herself fall, sprawling in his arms and seeming to flow like a liquid.

“Maybe because it was the first thing you’ve heard in years? After you caused yourself all that hearing damage?”

Arlen gaped and let her go, letting her fall toward the ground. The woman oozed in midair, spinning herself around and landing on her feet impressively.

“Not a nice way to treat your new partner,” she said with a smirk, holding out her hand. “Name’s Faydell.”

“Arlen.”

“Well, Arlen,” she smirked, “I think this is the start of something great.”

“We’ve been in the forest for ten minutes-”

“Come on! That was going to be a badass sentence! The kind of thing you end a book chapter on! But you ruined it!”

“Sorry…”

“Yeah. You should be. Now we all have to live with it.”

She sighed and rolled her eyes, but she smirked, reaching out to grab his hand, dragging him into the forest with seemingly no destination in mind.

Arlen glanced at the unfamiliar woman, wondering what the odds of him having a partner that he didn’t already know were.

She was short, though not overly so, with burgundy red hair that hung to about her shoulders. Her blood red eyes were filled with a light of mischief as she took off at a run, pulling her new partner along behind her. On top of her head, Arlen saw that there was a pair of adorable weasel ears that were set on top of her head.

Arlen supposed that she was insane, but, in his experience, those were the most entertaining people.

-

Raelynn was picking through the forest tiredly, not sure if she was going to find herself stuck with someone completely new, or if she was going to be lucky enough to have one of the girls she was hoping to run across her in the woods.

She heard footsteps behind her and spun, only to find another form dive to the side and hide behind a tree, trying to appear as small as possible.

“Wh… did hide from me?!” Raelynn cried. “Get back here! I’m not  _ that _ bad, depending on who you ask, that is…”

Raelynn rounded the tree, finding that Abdera was curled up in a ball, holding her hands over her eyes.

“What, can’t even look at me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I know you’re trying to find Braelyn, I won’t get in your way, don’t worry!”

“You’re not in the way,” Raelynn said gently, reaching out and grabbing her hand, tugging it away from her eyes.

The two locked gazes, and Abdera gave her a hesitant smile.

“You never will be. Now come on.”

She pulled her to her feet and the two started to walk through the forest.

-

A woman was walking through the forest with a slightly frustrated look on her face. She was rather tall, though not overly so, with light green eyes that darted around to see through the forest. Her pale face was littered with freckles, and her pink flannel shirt stuck out in the dark forest.

The woman was named Dicy, and she was trying to find her younger twin sister. Faydell was known for getting herself in trouble, and their parents had asked for their older daughter to watch over her, and she was going to try to hold up her promise, but it turns out that it’s hard to find one person in particular in a forest filled with dozens of other students that were trying not to die. Go figure.

She heard footsteps in front of her, and she turned, finding-

“Fay?” she found herself grinning, but suddenly the other woman disappeared, leaving another, unfamiliar one standing there. The woman was small, almost lithe, in appearance, with a darker skin tone than herself. She was wearing large round glasses and ruffled hair that seemed almost as if it was wind blown perpetually. Her eyes were dark black, and she raised an eyebrow as she looked at the other girl.

“Not exactly.”

“Well,” Dicy doesn’t know why her gaze wanders the other woman’s form, “I can’t say that I’m disappointed.”

The other woman raised an eyebrow and offered her a smirk.

“Is that so?”

“In fact it is, surprisingly.”

“Should I be insulted it’s a surprise?”

“Is this how it’s always going to be with you? You asking for more from me?”

“Is that how you want it to be?”

Dicy wasn’t sure quite what game they were playing, but she found herself enjoying it.

“What’s your name?”

“Ursy.”

She thought she liked that name.


	8. Picrews

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During the break I started to miss the characters and decided to use a few picrews to make them so I could see them again, so I thought I'd share them with you guys!

[Click Here To See!](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1STp6FxoL8X3W3_N3SCRZ__o0mOUkZDnn?usp=sharing)

That's the link to the google folder that they're all in, didn't want to add all of the pictures to this and make the fic unnecessarily long!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is there anyone that you guys would like to see more of? Couples and dynamic duos are also encouraged!


	9. Calamity

Yvenne pulled her scroll out of her pocket and clicked on a familiar contact.

The scroll only rang for a moment before it was picked up on the other end.

“Yvenne? You alright?” a familiar voice asked.

Yvenne let out a sigh, running a hand down her face.

“I don’t think so.”

She’d been working on not lying to herself and others, though she hadn’t realized how much of a hassle that system could be until recently.

“What happened? Is this a school thing or a gay thing?”

Yvenne flushed, still unused to the entire situation. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to respond when someone was so casual about her…  _ preference _ . For Dust’s sake, she still could hardly bear to think about it herself without feeling as if she had to check over her shoulder and make sure that someone wasn’t watching her, judging her thoughts.

It was stupid, but she supposed that old habits died hard, as the adige went.

“Hunter! Keep your voice down!” she hissed.

“What, are you back in the closet again?”

“No, I just-”

“Then calm down, I’m not at your family gathering or anything,” Hunter replied.

Yvenne huffed, but she supposed that she had no argument against his logic…

“So which is it?”

“A gay thing…”

“Isn’t it always with you?”

“Hunter!”

“Alright, alright, what happened?”

“Pandora… has a  _ partner _ ,” she muttered, sounding almost (or perhaps entirely) petulant to even her own ears.

“Aw, Yvenne, I’m so sorry. Wait, which one is Pandora?”

“The police officer.”

“Oh right! You sent a picture of her! She’s  _ hot, _ man.”

“Not helping!”

“Sorry! I’m sorry, Yvenne, I know you just realized that you liked her and that you wanted to maybe ask her ou-”

“I wasn’t going to ask her out!”

There was a beat of silence.

“I’m sorry, Yvenne, am I hearing this right? You like this woman, you’re finally out of the closet, she was  _ unbelievably  _ hot, and you  **weren’t** going to ask her out?”

Yvenne idly wondered if her face could possibly get any redder than they already were.

“Yes! I mean, no, I wasn’t going to ask her out.”

“Were you saving yourself for that Nutmeg girl with, like, fifteen girlfriends? Seriously, Yvenne, I know you’re new to this whole gay thing, but that’s called a harem, and it’s generally considered rather cultish and a no go, especially for first time fliers.”

“First of all, her name is  _ Saffron, _ not just any spice you think of off the top of your head! Second of all, she has  _ two _ girlfriends, not fifteen, and it’s not a harem!”

“I see you didn’t disagree with the part about saving yourself for her.”

Yvenne blushed.

“Th-That’s not-”

“Yeah, yeah, spare me the gay ramblings, I’ve heard them all. ‘Oh, Hunter, I was just admiring her shirt,  _ definitely not _ staring at her chest,’” Yvenne tried to interject, but he didn’t stop, “‘oh, Hunter, Saffron and Pandora are my  _ friends, _ I couldn’t replace you with them because they’re  _ girls, _ but… woah, if I could, I would have their children right here and now because-”

“Okay!” Yvenne hissed. “That’s enough!”

“Is it?”

“Don’t make me hang up on you.”

“You called me!”

It was true, she supposed, though it was rather shocking. Yvenne had called Hunter more times in the brief period since they had broken up than she had the entire time they were dating, which… looking back, should have been a bit of a red flag (as Hunter had said many a time in a condescending and playful manner).

“Anyways, it sucks that she’s got herself a partner, anythin’ you need, darlin’?”

“I told you not to call me that,” Yvenne muttered, curling up into a ball on her bed.

“You’re not my girlfriend anymore, darlin’, which means you can’t control what I say, don’t it?”

Yvenne, for a moment, wishes that weren’t true. Wishes she could go back to before, when the feeling that pretty girls gave her was just something that she put in the back of her mind, pretended that it was no big deal. Wishes she could go back to before when Hunter was her lie, was her sort of alibi of sorts that kept her safe from the charges that were being levied against her.

But now that comfort was gone and she was left with the cold, harsh reality that she was…

Well, she was all alone here in an unfamiliar region with giant, embarrassing, hard to comprehend crushes on the two girls that she really thought would help her without making fun of her. Sure, she had the rest of Xylia’s circus of children, but she didn’t want to  _ talk _ about what was going on. And yet, here she was, sitting on her bed and talking to Hunter about the very topic she felt had ruined her entire life’s trajectory.

-

Vander pulled into the parking lot of their apartment complex, about to step off of her motorcycle, but a sickeningly familiar form appeared in the corner of her vision, and she glanced over to find that Harleen was all but skulking toward her, like some sort of predator that had just caught sight of its prey.

“I got what you wanted,” Harleen smirked, “and what you  _ needed. _ ”

“A nap, two advils, and five days without your flirtatious comments?” Vander asked, taking off her helmet and tossing it into the bag that Harleen was carrying.

Harleen stumbled, but she was able to catch herself, which Vander thought was a disappointment of sorts. Harleen was about to speak, but she stopped suddenly.

Vander wasn’t sure what the other woman was waiting for, considering she almost always had a flirtatious comment to respond to Vander’s insults with. Vander took the moment to stretch after having been cooped up behind a desk all day. She ran one hand through her hair, not noticing that Harleen was watching her intently.

Harleen was no stranger to finding herself a patron of the female, or even the male, form. In fact, she liked to think of herself as a connoisseur of that sort of view. She had even found herself impressed by Vander’s appearance on multiple occasions, but she supposed that she had never truly appreciated what she saw, nor found herself left speechless as she stared.

Vander was, by all accounts, an impressive woman. She was one of the youngest talent agents that Harleen had ever heard of (that was a lie, she _ was _ the youngest talent agent she had ever heard of, but that could partly be because Harleen had never heard of another), she was dedicated, she was a good sister, a good friend, and  _ hot, _ as Harleen was realizing now.

Her flirtatious comments had been mostly serious, but not until now did she realize just how desperately she had wanted each one to work.

Vander raised an eyebrow and pulled her arms back down.

“Cat got your tongue there, Harleen?” Vander questioned, one of the panther ears on top of her head twitching at the words, as if to playfully remind her of why she had used that joke in particular.

“Not yet she doesn’t,” Harleen whispered.

“Excuse me?” Vander asked, eyes narrowing.

“Nothing!” Harleen said, waving her hands dismissively and almost dropping all of the groceries that Vander had sent her out to get.

Vander took the bags from her and practically scowled.

“I should hope it is.”

Vander turned and stalked into the apartment building, as if she was expecting the other woman to follow her.

Harleen didn’t take the time to consider that, doing just as Vander had predicted and almost stumbling on the way.

Vander either didn’t notice or didn’t care, considering she didn’t turn around.

-

Kylee set down her scroll when Xylia scowled at her, though it was difficult. She and Ilesha had been messaging about her new weapon since she had had to leave, and it was always impossible for Kylee to say no to the other girl, whether on big things (such as what color to make her weapon) or smaller things… such as ignoring her message for more than what was absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of those around her.

Vander had told her a little bit about what it was like to have a crush, specifically one that was famous and a member of the Adax Band, but it didn’t seem like her advice was working. These feelings didn’t seem like something that was starting to dissipate over time. She didn’t think that she had butterflies in her stomach, but closer to hurricanes and tornadoes that threatened to destroy her from the inside.

Perhaps that was a bad simile, but she couldn’t think of another. Perhaps because it was so damn hard to get the other girl out of her head. Her and her excitable smile, her genuine nature, her hair that Kylee could almost swear was brighter when the two of them were together…

She just didn’t know how to handle herself when Ilesha was around! Ever since she had owned up to who she was, Kylee had been confident in her identity, didn’t let anyone push her around or insult her about that sort of thing.

And yet, Ilesha had the ability to make her question every decision that she had ever made in her life. Made her regret every woman she had given a lingering look, every woman that she had brought back to her apartment and gotten familiar with…

There was just something about Ilesha that made her want to be a better person. Maybe it was her innocence, maybe it was her futile crush, maybe just Kylee’s own guilty conscience…

Or perhaps it was just Ilesha herself. In Kylee’s experience, it seemed as if every person that got close to the other girl was better for it… well, everyone except for two individuals that Kylee refused to truly acknowledge as anything but the horrendous outliers that they were.

Kylee thought she would have continued going through her internal monologue and worries about her change in heart, but the door opened, revealing Vander, who was followed soon after by Harleen, who looked almost dazed.

Kylee was going to ask if Harleen was alright, but upon following her line of gaze, she found herself trying not to gag.

She really,  _ really _ did not need to see Harleen staring at her sister like  _ that, _ and especially not where she was staring at her.

“Harleen!” Kylee hissed.

The other girl looked up, seeming to break out of her stunned state, and flashed her a small grin.

Kylee glared at her and shook her head vigorously.

While Vander greeted the others and started to set up, Harleen ambled over to Kylee.

“What’s your problem?” Harleen asked.

“My  _ problem _ is that you’re staring at my sister like you used to stare at me, and that’s  _ not cool, _ Har!”

“What can I say? I have needs that you are no longer fulfilling, and-”

“You say one more word, and I’ll repeat that to Vander’s face!” Kylee snapped.

Harleen’s face paled slightly.

“Is this why you accepted the assistant position? You have a thing for the assistant seducing her boss? Because seriously that’s disgusting an-”

“That is  _ not _ why I took the job!”

“Could have fooled me!”

Harleen was going to respond, but she was interrupted when Vander started to laugh, shaking her head as she watched Torey trying to unscrew the back of the TV remote.

“Shut up, Van!” Torey snapped.

“I will the moment that you finish whatever you’re trying to do over there!” she called back.

Torey glared at her darkly, trying again.

“I would say you could call a handyman,” Vander snickered, “but you seem to have a thing for the handy _ women, _ so shall I get my scroll and give a holler?”

“First of all, go fuck yourself,” Torey hissed, “and second, did you just say ‘give a holler?’ Who are you, Yvenne? Get out of here with that country nonsense.”

Vander rolled her eyes and leaned forward on the counter, crossing her arms in front of her and raising an eyebrow as she looked at her sister.

Kylee didn’t hear whatever she said, considering she was distracted by the way she saw Harleen watching her sister. Her expression was different from earlier, and it had grown softer, a sort of awe dawning on her face as she watched.

Kylee wanted to interrupt, to stop whatever sort of realization that Harleen was having, but luckily she didn’t have to, considering Pandora had just entered the apartment, and everyone had turned around to celebrate, cheering.

“I always knew she’d find a catch!” Waseem shouted, racing over and clapping. He looked like he wanted to hug Pandora, but knew better than to do so.

Pandora smiled, her expression seeming slightly off, and she let herself fall against his side, his arms wrapping around her securely enough that she felt protected, but not too much so that she might feel stifled.

“Thanks?” she said, though it sounded more like a question.

The rest of the family took turns approaching her and letting her fall against their side for a hug.

The final member was Yvenne, who seemed rather nervous at the prospect, her face already a light shade of pink as her eyes darted to and away from Pandora.

Pandora frowned, watching Yvenne’s expression. She wasn’t sure what it was, and she was pretty sure she hadn’t seen any like this in her facial expression flashcards she had studied when she was younger.

She hesitated, and her gaze darted to Xylia, who gave her a comforting smile and gestured at Yvenne very subtly, letting Pandora know that her friend wasn’t in a hostile or bad mood.

Pandora let herself lean against Yvenne, who wrapped her arms around the other girl’s waist and let herself bury her face in the other girl’s shoulder.

She hated to admit that she took comfort in the hug, in the familiar scent of Pandora’s police jacket, in the weight of Pandora against her. She hated to admit that despite everything, she still couldn’t help but feel her heart skip a beat as the other girl up her chin on top of her head.

Pandora wasn’t completely sure what was going on with Yvenne. The other’s emotions were always so confusing to her, as if Yvenne was always trying to quiet her own feelings. It had gotten better recently, but now there were more complex and contradicting ones that were somewhat confusing to Pandora, and she really didn’t want to have to think about them, so she let her eyes fall shut, instead enjoying the warmth of the hug.

The rest of the night was spent predictably. There was a celebration, the group put on some of their music while Torey talked smugly about the songs, only to be hushed by her siblings that all turned to Pandora, asking her questions about Jordy.

She tried to keep herself from answering too many, not wanting to divulge her partner’s secrets, but her family was pushy and she was excited, which meant that she didn’t exactly succeed at it.

Kylee was trying to keep an eye on Harleen, but she found that the other girl was mostly just staring at Vander, occasionally making rather suggestive comments only for Vander to shut her down. Instead of being dissuaded, however, Harleen seemed to be spurred on by Vander’s words, perhaps as if this whole thing was a challenge, or as if she was going to make it one.

Yvenne was awkward most of the night, trying to keep herself at a distance, but it didn’t stay for long, and she was immersed in a debate with Torey about the validity of her hypothesis that if water wasn’t wet, it was, therefore, dry, and thus an ocean was as dry as a desert. Yvenne had taken the opposing argument, though she was sending glances over at Pandora whenever she thought she was being sneaky enough, though it seemed that almost everyone in the room had noticed.

All in all? A pretty normal night for the group…

Calamity and all.


	10. A Fight

Arlen, quite honestly, had no idea how it had gotten to this point. He had no clue how he had ended up standing side by side with Cassandra and two women that he barely knew about to fight a horrific looking Grimm creature that Arlen thought looked somewhat familiar from the textbooks he had been forced to read by his mother, Stacey.

He supposed that the first logical step that had led him here had been when he had met Faydell, and the next had to be when they grabbed a relic, theirs having been the white knight piece that Faydell had latched onto and made a joke about. He had realized almost immediately that his friend, Cassandra, had grabbed a carbon copy of theirs, but of the opposite color. The three of them, along with a fourth person that Arlen still didn’t know the name of, started to head back to the school that they had been unceremoniously thrown from a bit earlier.

On the way, however, they had been intercepted by a large Grimm, which was already running at the newly formed team at full speed.

“Hey, Ar?” Faydell called.

“What?!”

“Mind doing that earthquake thing you did earlier?”

He rolled his eyes and didn’t bother with headphones, or even his scroll. Instead, he snapped his fingers at Cassandra, who grinned excitedly, practically buzzing with enthusiasm as she activated her semblance.

She started to glow for a moment, lighting up the forestry like the sun, before she reared both of her hands back. She channeled her stored energy into her arms, slamming her hands together to have a deafening clap that echoed through the entire forest. Except… just as it was going to possibly cause some hearing damage, the noise was absorbed and silenced, rushing to Arlen soundlessly.

Arlen smirked and looked up at the charging Grimm.

He slammed one foot against the ground, causing a large spike of the ground to rise up and slam against the creature forcefully. Arlen let out a small, victorious laugh.

“That good enough, Fay?” he called.

Faydell rolled her eyes.

“Yes, show off,” she replied, taking off at a full sprint toward the creature, seeming to slink down to the ground before she exploded upward, jumping impossibly high, and landing on the creature’s back. She pulled something, what appeared to be a small square of metal, out of her pocket, pulling on it until it extended to what appeared to be a long whip, which she threw out wide with one hand.

The chain wrapped around the creature’s neck and came racing back toward Faydell, who snatched the metal with her other hand, pulling backward with both arms, effectively beginning to strangle the monster.

It started to buck and tumble underneath her, but Faydell seemed unaffected, her balance unperturbed as her legs remained slightly bent, seeming to bend along with the different tactics that the monster employed to dislodge her.

Faydell let out a whoop of excitement, and Cassandra couldn’t help but laugh, covering her mouth with one hand.

“What the heck are you doing?!” Cassandra called, taking off at a dash toward the creature. She stepped into the light, the sun hitting her back and seeming to frame her in an ethereal glow as she absorbed its radiance into her skin.

“It’s like a rodeo, sweetheart!” Faydell cried back, tugging harshly on the chain in her hands.

“This is  _ not _ a rodeo, you’re just crazy,” Cassandra shouted, though she was trying not to laugh as she activated her semblance, glowing golden again as she slammed her shoulder against the creature.

Arlen glanced at the fourth member of his newly formed team, raising an eyebrow.

“Hey, I’m Arlen, sorry about them.”

The woman gave him a small smile. She was slightly taller than him, though the difference wasn’t dramatic, with brown hair that bled into what he assumed to be natural blond highlights on the end. Her eyes, which were a light shade of yellow, darted between him and their teammates. As she looked fully at him, he was surprised to find that her face was covered in lightly colored freckles that contrasted her more tanned skin tone.

“Name’s Osvaldo, it’s a pleasure,” she said.

She stepped forward almost casually, reaching down to grab a weapon from her waist.

She raised a large axe, about the size of her forearm, and threw it underhand.

The weapon spun, slamming against the monster’s face and rebounding off of it, swinging back around and hitting it in the leg.

It twirled back and landed in Osvaldo’s hand. She threw it again, and it followed the same path.

“That’s some impressive marksmanship there,” Arlen said, not noticing Cassandra as she dove to the side to avoid getting hit by a stray leg.

“I’d like to think so,” Osvaldo replied, giving him a small smirk before raising her hand casually to catch her tomahawk again.

So… yeah, Arlen thought that this year was going to be very interesting.


	11. Team Announcements

Students stumbled out of the forest in groups of four, and only a couple dozen minutes later they were crowded behind the stage, waiting for their names to be called.

The first team that was called onto the stage was easy, comparably.

That is, it was easy to name.

“Team ZBRA,” Glynda started, pronouncing the team name like zebra, “will consist of Zohra Ajax, Braelyn Vine, Raelynn Nikos, and Abdera Valkyrie, with Zohra Ajax as team leader!”

There was deafening cheering, Ilesha screaming her lungs out for her sister alongside her mothers, but Ilehsa and Alea were the loudest. That was expected. What was  _ not _ expected, however, was for Ivy to have brought an air horn that she used, making everything else seem quiet in comparison.

After everything was back in control, Zohra shepherded her teammates over to the edge of the stage so that they could go down to their seats, but right before she could get them to their positions, a form fell from the sky in front of her.

“Congratulations, guys! Oh, this team is going to be  _ amazing,  _ I just know it!” Aella cried, throwing her arms around Braelyn and Raelynn first, giving each a kiss on the cheek.

Zohra ignored the stab of jealousy she felt at the action, looking away.

Abdera seemed rather upset at the action too, but it was clear she was more happy for the other three girls than anything.

Zohra was shocked when Aella threw herself over and grabbed Zohra in a tight hug, lifting her into the air.

“Zoh, you’re going to be a  _ perfect _ team leader! Oh, it’s no wonder they picked you!” she spun the other girl around in a circle for a moment before setting her down with a wide grin.

“Uh, thanks, Aella,” Zohra said awkwardly, patting the other girl on the back as she was set down, wanting to hug her back and make the moment last, but with Braelyn and Raelynn there she knew that the risk was too great, so she let Aella pull away, the other girl still beaming.

Jin cleared her throat, and Aella glanced over her shoulder before wincing awkwardly.

“Sorry, Jin wants me to go back and-”

“Didn’t you single handedly keep her girlfriend from falling into depression?” Raelynn asked quickly, not letting her girlfriend finish.

“W-well, not single handedly, but I like to think I helped!” Aella said, blushing at the compliment.

“I’m pretty sure that was single handed,” Raelynn replied, waving her hand dismissively.

“Not to mention that she said Romy wouldn’t be interested in the cutest girl I know,” Braelyn said, leaning against Aella’s side.

“B-Brae, you’re dating two girls, don’t be mean to Rae!” Aella hissed.

“No, she’s right, I’m not offended,” Raelynn said, leaning over against Aella’s other side.

Aella was forced to put an arm around the two of them to get comfortable.

“Aella!” Jin called.

“You don’t deserve her!” Braelyn hissed.

“Wh-”

“She’s ours now, we don’t make the rules!” Raelynn said, guiding her girlfriends over to sit down.

Aella tried to resist, but not very hard, and gave Jin an apologetic smile before she just took a seat, smiling shyly.

Jin stared indignantly, but she couldn’t stop them, both because she was rather nervous of how they would respond, and also because they had valid arguments.

Meanwhile, on stage, the next team was walking onto the stage, and Glynda stared, her mind whirling.

In front of her was Ursy, Dicy, Kesey, and Gwendolyn.

What was she supposed to name their team?! In all her years teaching, she had had a lot of close calls for naming the teams, but this… this was  _ horrible _ !

She wracked her mind for a moment before she decided  _ fuck it _ and spoke.

“Team DUGK,” pronounced duck, “will consist of Dicy McGee, Ursy Fernsby, Gwedolyn Ozera, and Kesey Alistair, with team leader Dicy Mcgee!”

“Team DUGK?” Kesey asked.

“Is my name silent in that?!” Gwendolyn hissed.

“Did you just give up the moment you say a G and a U?” Ursy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

“Everyone just take your seat!” Glynda snapped, blushing slightly. That had not been her best naming, but at least Kesey and Gwendolyn were out of the way, no way could there be-

Wait.

Glynda looked over at the paper in her hands.

Fuck.

No, please…

Yang put a hand on the headmistress’ shoulder.

“Hey, you alright? That was… well, that was  _ horrible, _ I’m sorry, but do you need someone else to-”

Yang saw the next names on the paper.

“Yeah, actuall-”

“You know what?” Yang asked, taking a step backward and raising her hands. “You’ve got this, sorry I doubted you.”

“Wh-”

“You got this! Good luck!”

“Yang!”

Before she could say anything else, the next team was walking out, and she couldn’t do anything but listen to her first thought.

“Team AFCO,” pronounced aftershock, “will consist of Arlen Ajax, Faydell McGee, Cassandra Vine, and Osvaldo Vega, with Arlen Ajax as team leader!”

“Team AFCO?” Cassandra asked.

“Isn’t that out of order for aftershock the word?” Osvaldo called.

“Shut up!” Glynda hissed. “You got the team name you got, you’re here, just be grateful!”

Arlen was still in shock that he was a team leader, unable to think about the rather… unique team name that they had been given.

At least the worst was over for Glynda, right? There couldn’t be more  _ awful _ names mixed toge-

Damnit, she should have known better than to jinx herself, and yet here she was, staring at-

“Team BBCG,” pronounced  _ bubblegum, _ “will consist of-”

“I’m sorry, our team is named  _ what _ ?!” a woman called. She was tall, though not obnoxiously so like some, with long curling gazelle horns reaching out of short black hair. Her eyes, which were a pale icy blue, were glaring up at the headmistress.

“BBCG.”

“Oh no, I heard you the first time, I just thought I’d give you a second chance!”

“What is with silent names this year?!” called a man, who was mostly perfectly average in almost every way, down from his normal height to his blond hair and blue eyes.

“Team BBCG will consist of Barrie Valkyrie, Bentley Vine, Cha’ad Smi’ith, and Gazella Gentry with team leader Barrie Valkyrie!”

“So we’re really going with bubblegum?” Gazella asked.

“Yes, just as your parents named a Gazelle Faunus Gazella, I don’t think we should get this argument started, sweetheart.”

Gazella flushed and glared at her.

“W- that’s racist!”

“Take it up with your parents, I didn’t name you.”

Gazella looked like she was about to start a riot, stalking toward the headmistress, but Cha’ad grabbed her around the waist and lifted her into the air.

“And up we go! No need to get violent this early in the morning.”

“I  _ am _ the violence!” Gazella shouted.

“I’m sure, I’m sure. Come on, let’s go take a seat.”

Gazella squirmed, but ultimately let her partner carry her back to their seats, but not before she gave the headmistress an “I’m watching you” symbol with her hands.

Well, at least the troublemakers were over.

Though, to be fair, she expected to have the issues from the Valkyrie of the team, not Gazella.


	12. Work

Vander took a moment to breathe, letting out a sigh as she rubbed her forehead.

It had been a long day, and it was only two in the afternoon. She was on her third coffee, but to be fair it was partly due to the fact that she secretly laughed on the inside whenever Harleen huffed and stomped away to get her another cup.

Harleen was watching Vander, wondering if the other girl was going to break out in screams or fall unconscious first.

She would prefer the second for her hearing to stay intact, but the first she thought would be  _ far _ more interesting to watch, in several ways.

There was a knock at the door, and Vander’s head shot up.

“Harleen, is someone scheduled?” she hissed, her ear twitching.

“I don’t think so,” Harleen replied, flipping through her notes.

“Do you think or do you know?” Vander snapped.

Harleen looked up.

“I know you don’t have an appointment.”

“Then march over to the door and tell them to go fuck themselves,” Vander said.

“Do you really want me to say that?”

“Of course I don’t!”

Harleen rolled her eyes and Vander got back to her papers, sorting through them and muttering under her breath.

Harleen opened the door, and she was surprised to find that there was a small child standing there looking up at her. She was blond with bright blue eyes, which… were filled to the brim with tears.

“Uh… Vander!”

“What in the name of the monster that lives under the beds of children and fu-”

“There’s a child!” Harleen snapped before Vander could finish her rather creative curse.

Vander shut up immediately, looking up from her notes with wide eyes.

“There’s a what?!”

“A child!”

Vander was out of her seat immediately, appearing at the door moments later.

“Oh, Connie!” Vander said, her voice changing from aggressive to kind fast enough to give Harleen whiplash.

Vander leaned down and put one knee on the ground and opened her arms up.

The girl, Constance, stepped forward and let herself fall into arms, crying against her chest.

“Oh, hey, Connie, hey, what’s wrong?” Vander asked, scooping the girl into her arms and standing up, holding her tightly.

The girl looked like she couldn’t have been older than eight, and Harleen couldn’t stop staring at the interaction.

Here was the woman that had been yelling at her all day, especially when she had accidentally put sugar in her coffee. It was the same woman that had countless piercings covering her face from the tips of her panther ears down to her tongue… at least, that’s what Harleen had seen, but sometimes she wondered if perhaps there were more she couldn’t easily see.

But now, here Vander was leaning down and pressing her forehead against the young girl’s.

“M-my d-daddy, h-he-”

“Hey, deep breaths, Connie-Bear, alright?” Vander said, pulling the girl closer.

Constance nodded, and buried her face in Vander’s shoulder.

“So let’s start from the beginning. Your daddy did what?”

Harleen wished she could say that the scene wasn’t endearing, and, in a way, she supposed that she could, considering it wasn’t just that. It was, quite possibly, the most delicate scene she had witnessed in person her entire life. She’d had a rough go of it, that much was clear from her  _ everything,  _ and she couldn’t believe that perhaps the sweetest thing she had ever witnessed was being presented by none other than  _ Vander _ of all people.

“H-he-”

Vander stopped listening for a moment, looking down at the girl’s face and examining it further.

There was a dark bruise forming on her cheek.

“Did he do this?” Vander asked, gently putting one finger on the girl’s face.

Constance sniffled.

“Yeah, h-he said that if I didn’t stop crying then he was going to hit me, and I…,” the girl teared up again, but she sniffled, trying to keep her tears in.

Vander took a moment to breathe, rage filling her.

She wished she could say this was the first time she had seen a parent abuse a child like this in this sort of industry, but she’d be forgetting about countless other children she’d been an agent for, as well as herself.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, you can cry here, don’t listen to him, alright?” Vander whispered.

That was all that was needed for the girl to burst into tears.

Vander was about to speak, but her ear twitched when she heard heavy footsteps heading toward them.

“Harleen?”

That was the gentlest tone that Vander had ever directed toward her, and she started.

“Y-yeah?”

“Can you watch Constance for me? I have some juice boxes and snacks under my desk if she’s hungry, but I’ve got some…  _ business _ to attend to.”

Harleen scrambled to grab the girl, Constance was far too old to be carried this way, which made Harleen wonder how Vander had held her.

Harleen was able to slowly put the girl to the ground without dropping her, and Vander gave her a curt nod, reaching over to the coat rack by her door.

She was wearing a light pink shirt, which Harleen had thought was silly at first, but now she understood it. As she grabbed her leather jacket off of the coat rack and shrugged it over her shoulders, Harleen finally understood.

Vander suddenly shifted personas, her gentle smile that she had shown Constance earlier was gone, and she was once again the tough woman that Harleen had come to know.

Vander stalked out of the room, and Harleen could hear muffled yelling.

She grabbed her scroll and started to play music to distract Constance, but she couldn’t get the mental images of Vander out of her head.

The way her features had softened when she held Constance, the way she had comforted her gently… the way she’d smiled…

Suddenly, Harleen couldn’t breathe, her mind filled with images of Vander with the girl, sitting at her desk, smirking as she asked for another coffee, the way she had smiled…

Oh no.

She was  _ definitely _ in trouble.

As Vander walked back into the room and grabbed Harleen by the arm, pulling her to the side, she stumbled, staring up at Vander in awe.

Vander snapped her fingers.

“W-what?” Harleen stuttered, her face flushing red.

“I  _ said _ you need to get CPS, the police, and her mother on the phone… and security, they need to…  _ assist _ someone who appears to have accidentally harmed themself,” Vander said.

“Y-yeah, okay, Vander,” she breathed.

“Are you alright?” Vander asked, care in her voice.

_ No. _

“Y-yeah, I’ll just go…”

Vander gave her a small smile and squeezed her arm, walking away and not noticing that she was being watched.


	13. A Night In

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, can you just say that again?”

“I said I’m gay! Homosexual! Attracted to women and women only!”

“Okay, okay, now… how did your very not female and very male boyfriend take this news?”

“He’s the one that told me.”

“So you were enough of a disaster lesbian to make your boyfriend go ‘okay, she’s gotta know, the jig is up!’”

“That’s not what happened! Besides, I’m not a disaster!”

“Do you know what a disaster lesbian is, Yvenne?”

“Not… exactly, I suppose…”

“Well, my tiny friend, it is a word that is specifically used to describe lesbians, or other orientations depending on the context of said gay disaster, that are very obvious with their attraction.”

“I am  _ not _ -”

“So my sister was lying when she said she saw you watching Aella a  _ little _ bit too much during the vacation!”

“How would Rosemary know that!”

“No, the other sister.”

“You have another?!”

“Yeah, Kesey!”

“Saffron, I am not in the right headspace to keep track of your messed up, almost circular, family tree! But… well, I just thought that Aella was nice!”

“Nice looking, you mean?”

“Careful now, don’t want your girlfriends getting jealous,” Yvenne said, trying to deflect.

“Don’t distract me! You’re a disaster!”

“I don’t see why that’s so important.”

“It just is, you’ll understand when you’re older.”

“We’re the same age! I might be older than you!”

“Semantics, semantics,” Saffron waved her hand, but Yvenne couldn’t see it, considering they were on call. “But more importantly, who are you currently a disaster about?”

Yvenne flushed.

“I- well- it’s more complicated than that…”

“Is it?”

Yvenne panicked. Anything to get Saffron off of the trail of Yvenne’s rather… complicated feelings toward the other girl would be good enough.

“Pandora!”

“Oooh, I see it, I see it, I can’t fault you for that one,” Saffron said.

“Yeah she’s really nice and-”

“Badass,” Saffron breathed, sitting down on the couch.

“Yeah,” Yvenne admitted.

“So are you gonna tell her?”

“Definitely not!”

“And why is that?”

“Because she’s already dating someone.”

“She is?”

“Yeah, her police partner.”

“Oh. I’m… I’m sorry, Yvenne.”

Saffron didn’t know why she felt so bad for Yvenne.

-

“Hey, Van-Van?”

Vander almost dropped her scroll.

“Cooper?!”

“The one and only! Or, well, one and only Cooper Schnee-Polendina, I think there’s more Coopers in the world!”

“Not to me…”

“What?”

“I-I said what do you need me for? O-or, I mean, what’s up?!”

“I was just calling to ask if you were a talent agent.”

“Y-yeah! Why?”

“Cause I wanted to give a present to my moms and I was thinking you could help me!”

“Y- wait, did you say your last name was Schnee-Polendina?”

“Yep! So can you help?”

“Y-yeah, I guess, what do you need then?”

“Well before I was born and Mama Winter was pregnant with me, there was this documentary about our family that came out that was totally not true, and I was hoping that maybe I could, with the help of some of my friends, finance a new one? Or maybe a show?”

“Well, that’s not exactly what talent agents do, and-”

“It’s not?”

The sound of Cooper’s heartbroken voice was enough to sway Vander.

“No, but… I can work it out, alright?”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Anything for you, Coop!”

“Thanks, Van! Right back at you!”

“So, uh, I was wondering if maybe you’d like to come over sometime?”

Vander played with a few sticky notes and not noticing that Harleen was trying her hardest to hear what Vander was hearing… and figure out why it was making the woman smile so sweetly that it made Harleen’s heart ache.

_ Dust, I need to figure this shit out cause I am  _ **_not_ ** _ prepared to be an off brand love sick Kylee. Damnit but I need to at least be original in some way! _ Harleen thought.  _ I  _ **_refuse_ ** _ to be yet another cliché that melts at her fe- oh shit is she looking at me? _

Harleen flushed and waved as Vander’s eyes landed on her.

Vander frowned in confusion at the waving, but she shook her head, reaching over and snapping at Harleen.

She jumped and scrambled to figure out what Vander was looking for, passing her a pencil and a larger piece of paper.

Vander jotted down a few notes.

“Okay! Okay sounds great, Coop! See you then!”

There was a noise on the other end.

“O-oh? A plus one? Do you…,” Vander stopped writing, “have a girlfriend? Or boyfriend? Just in general a partner?”

Another sound.

Vander grinned and did a small motion of victory before she responded.

“Oh your cousin? Yeah, yeah, that’s no big deal! Yeah she can come over!”

Harleen found that she did  _ not _ enjoy the idea of whoever this “Coop” was seeing Vander, especially if she was so excited that he was single… and coming over.

She frowned and wanted to interrupt, but knew better.

“Alright! Bye Coop! See you in a few days!”

Vander hung up and found herself grinning as she grabbed the notes she had written, folding them neatly before putting them in her pocket.

“Business meeting?” Harleen asked.

Vander stared at her for a moment.

“Obviously not.”

“Who was it?”

“None of your damn business.”

“Fine, fine, just thought I was supposed to be your receptionist, and as such you would have a reason to tell me about meetings.”

Vander groaned and rubbed her face.

“It wasn’t work related. Someone I know wants to come by the apartment later and hang out.”

“Oh. Is it a guy or-”

Vander flushed.

“I  _ hardly _ see how that is appropriate to ask your  _ boss, _ and furthermore it is presumptuous!”

“I don’t know, I  **definitely** thought you were into chicks, so…”

“A woman can like both!” Vander snapped. “I don’t know why this is being discussed! Just get back to work, okay?!”

Well… if nothing else, Vander was attracted to women, right?

But… as she glared at Harleen, it was safe to say that Vander would not put her on that list of women.

-

Ilesha picked up her scroll when she felt it go off, and she looked down.

Coop: You going to see Kylee on Wednesday?

Ilesha: Not that I remember, why?

Coop: Ally and I are going and I wanted to know if you were!

Ilesha: If you want me to I can ask!

Coop: Cool!

Ilesha opened up a different contact.

Ilesha: Hey mind if I come over on Wednesday?

-

Kylee thought she was going to have a heart attack.

-

Ky-Ky: Yes!

Ky-Ky: I mean yeah that would be cool.

Ilesha: Great! See you then!!

-

Kylee wondered if that could mean something…

She really,  _ really _ hoped so, but she knew it wasn’t any big deal…


	14. Rooms

It wasn’t that Abdera didn’t like Braelyn and Raelynn. Really, it wasn’t! She was just… awkward and a little bit uncomfortable around them. After all, she was pretty sure that she was in love with their girlfriend (not Cassandra, considering that was technically just Raelynn’s girlfriend…)

Anyways, the issue was that she really,  _ really _ liked Aella and didn’t want to tell either of them that she was in love with her, so she wished that she hadn’t been put on a team with them.

But she supposed that Zohra being on her team was cool. She liked the other girl, after all, and her girlfriend was… well, she was fun, but not always nice, but Abdera didn’t see that as too much of an issue. The real problem she had with those two was that they…  _ also _ had a romantic interest in Aella, clearly, and Abdera didn’t want them to become enemies because of this.

She guessed the whole thing was just rather… awkward? She wasn’t exactly good with words, not like her brother. He was “loquacious” as he liked to say, but she only knew what that meant from context clues.

“You look a little spaced out there, Der,” Raelynn said, reaching up to wave her hand in front of the other girl’s face.

Abdera jumped, taking a step back and almost falling onto the bed behind her.

Abdera looked around for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

She guessed she had really spaced out…

Braelyn and Raelynn had already shoved their beds together, the two twins masking a queen, which they had already stolen the blankets off of.

Zohra had put up a single picture, which was of her family. Alea was holding Zohra by the legs, her daughter sitting on her shoulders, while Arlen was being held like a football by Terresa. Ilesha had an arm wrapped around both Lexey and Syntheia to pull them close, and Syntheia was holding Stacey around the waist with a relaxed expression on her face.

“Aww,” Abdera said quietly, leaning over to get a better look at what Zohra had put up.

Zohra glanced over at her and smiled a bit.

“Are you going to get your stuff together?” Zohra asked playfully.

“Right!” Abdera flushed. “Of course!”

She hurried back to her bed while Braelyn and Raelynn moved their beds, scooting them together as they both smirked, leaning forward from opposite sides of the bed and sharing a kiss.

Abdera looked away, feeling her face flush again. That sort of… thing, no matter who was doing it, always made her a little bit embarrassed, and she cleared her throat slightly as she worked on her bed, adding her sheets and blanket.

She didn’t realize that there were several pairs of eyes on her as she worked, opening her backpack and silently pulling out several stuffed animals, which she deliberately lined up in order, smiling fondly at them as she did so.

She had finally finished putting them in the order she wanted when another form appeared on the bed, having jumped onto it.

Abdera scrambled to make sure that one of her stuffed animals, Fluffy, didn’t fall off of the bed.

Raelynn didn’t seem to notice she had almost caused one of them to fall off, and she grinned as she leaned closer, picking up one of the animals and playing with its paws.

“Aw, I didn’t know you still slept with these, Dera,” Raelynn said, sprawling out on the bed as she played with a few more.

Abdera blushed and rubbed the back of her neck.

“Uh, yeah, I… I sleep better when I have something to hold, and they’re just so cute,” Abdera said, playing with the closest one to her nervously.

“Oh? I think you and I might have something in common,” Raelynn said.

Braelyn had wandered over at this point to join her girlfriend, putting her head on her shoulder.

“We do?” Abdera asked, her heart beating a bit quicker. There was only one important thing she thought she had in common with Raelynn, and she certainly didn’t want the other woman to know what it was.

“We both love sleeping and holding something adorable,” Raelynn said, grabbing a hold of Braelyn.

Abdera’s heart slowed.

“Maybe we could compare notes,” Raelynn continued.

Abdera’s heart was going to get whiplash at this point.

“I, um… I…”

Raelynn watched with a smirk and, unbeknownst to everyone else in the room, Zohra was watching the interaction very closely, eyes widening slightly.

“Is that a no?” Raelynn asked.

Abdera shook her head, but she didn’t think she could speak.

“I’ll take it as a yes then,” Raelynn said.

Abdera didn’t know what to say and cleared her throat, turning away with a bright red face as she tried to busy herself by setting up her bed. She liked to put up a thin sheet surrounding it, like a hospital bed kind of, but it barely blocked any light. She just liked the way it looked, shimmering in the morning.

What could she say? She liked pretty things.

-

“Could have been team dug, but no, my name had to be the silent one,” Gwendolyn muttered to herself, finishing her bed. She hadn’t brought any decorations in her luggage, which left it up to her three teammates to furnish the room, and she couldn’t care less what they chose to do with it.

She had never been one to care about that sort of thing.

“Well, we  _ could _ change the name to team dugk,” Kesey replied, smirking. She had pronounced the word duck, but with the addition of a g and a heavy accent on it.

Gwendolyn grimaced.

“Perhaps it is best that we leave it to duck,” she said.

“No, I think that dugk is more fun!” Dicy added, jumping onto her bed and letting her head hang down as she looked up at Gwendolyn, smirking. “What ‘bout you, partner?”

Ursy looked over and raised an eyebrow.

“I think that either way is fine,” she said. “However, the headmistress did specifically call us team duck.”

“Really? I don’t remember it that way,” Kesey said playfully.

Ursy didn’t seem to pick up on the playfulness, instead frowning.

“That’s what happened.”

“Oh yeah?” Kesey always liked a challenge. “Then prove it.”

There was a beat of silence.

“If that’s what she said, then prove it. I’m  _ sure _ that you can make  _ your _ memory more valid than  _ mine _ .”

“Kesey, you know that’s not a fair fight,” Gwendolyn chided, though she had to admit that she hardly cared about the conversation.

“It really isn’t,” Ursy said. “Considering I’d win.”

Kesey sat up from her bed.

“Is that so?”

Ursy smiled.

“It is.”

“Then do it.”

Ursy closed her eyes, and a moment later, Glynda appeared beside her.

Kesey’s eyes widened, and Dicy almost fell off of her bed in surprise.

The woman beside Ursy spoke, imitating the real Glynda perfectly.

““Team DUGK,” pronounced duck, “will consist of Dicy McGee, Ursy Fernsby, Gwedolyn Ozera, and Kesey Alistair, with team leader Dicy Mcgee!”” it said before disappearing.

Ursy gave Kesey a small smirk.

“Think twice next time before trying to trick my memory. I think you’ll find it’s near impossible.”

Ursy didn’t know it then, but she had issued a challenge that Kesey fully intended to fight.

-

Arlen glanced around the room quickly, analyzing his new teammates with a small grin.

He couldn’t believe that he had been chosen to be a  _ team leader _ !

He had gotten a little nervous while he was waiting for his team to be announced as two opposing thoughts dominated his mind. First there was team IMCA, now ICA, and then team ZBRA.  _ Both _ of his siblings had been chosen as team leaders, and it would be more than a little embarrassing if he was the odd man out in the trio. He was sure that Ilesha would be nice about it, but Zohra?

Well, she could be a little harsh sometimes, even if it was all in good spirit.

Suffice it to say, Arlen  _ really _ wanted to be a team leader… even if the idea of being one scared him more than anything else in the world. What if he messed up? What if he got someone hurt? What if…

He took a deep breath as a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Hey, you alright?”

He turned to see who had put their hand on his shoulder, and he smiled gently at Osvoldo.

“Yeah, just… thinking,” he said, giving her a grin. “Thanks for checking in.”

“That’s what a teammate’s supposed to do,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“Then thanks for being a good teammate would be the better choice of words,” he replied playfully.

“Oh, I’m just getting started, so you better hold onto those thanks,” she said, pulling back and heading to her things to get them ready.

Faydell had watched the interaction with a small smirk, raising an eyebrow at her teammates.

“You know, some people might think it’s a bit rude to stare,” Cassandra said.

Faydell glanced at her partner, finding that Cassandra was darting around the room and putting her things down at full speed. She had already moved her bed to the far side of the room, where a bit of sun was peeking through the large window.

When she had finished unpacking her things, very quickly she might add, Cassandra leapt onto her bed and curled up in a small square of light, smiling to herself.

Faydell wondered if she should be worried about her partner, but she shrugged, instead flopping onto her own bed and pulling out her scroll, messaging her sister.

Faydell: How’s your new team?

Dicy: Better than yours.

Faydell: That so? Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but mine has the hotter members.

Dicy: Yeah, because yours has a dude in it!

Faydell: I said members PLURAL, dear sister. Perhaps you missed seeing some of my other teammates?

Faydell didn’t get a response, and she knew that she wasn’t going to, considering her sister was still uncomfortable with her recent coming out of the closet.

Well… slightly coming out of the closet, considering she hadn’t told their parents or friends back home… but she’d told her sister, and the response had been rather… forced.

Dicy was a good sister, really, but…

She wasn’t exactly the most understanding of her sister’s… preferences, and she was still trying to change her mind.

Faydell put her scroll back in her pocket and tried not to sigh, putting on a fake grin as she turned back to her team.

She would convince her sister to change her mind… eventually.

-

Gazella huffed and rolled her eyes as she watched her team.

Cha’ad was putting up the most cliche poster that Gazella had ever seen, grinning at his “live, laugh, love” sign.

Gazella swore she was going to take it down in the next twenty-four hours.

Although, he did look rather proud of it.

Barrie seemed to agree with Gazella’s assessment, and the two shared a suffering look. Bentley, however, seemed like he didn’t mind, and he put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Your poster looks… nice,” Bentley said.

“Thanks!” Cha’ad beamed. “I  _ love _ these posters!”

“I’m… not surprised,” Gazella said slowly.

Being diplomatic was… difficult sometimes. Especially when one of your roommates had shit taste.


	15. Protection

It wasn’t that Saffron was a prude. It really wasn’t! Saffron was all for a good time! Except…

Not when it included ogling of a person that had no idea what was going on.

Saffron was just trying to enjoy another gig, one that was supposed to help improve Ilesha’s mood even, to let her know that there were people that were there for her after everything that had happened.

Instead, Jin had _ruined everything!_ Or, well, to be fair, Jin had asked for one simple favor and Saffron had readily agreed, but still, it had ruined everything that Saffron was _not_ willing to take the blame for this one.

/

“Hey, babe,” Jin put her hand on Saffron’s arm right as she was about to step onto the stage of the bar.

“Yeah?” Saffron turned and gave her a small smirk.

Jin rolled her eyes at the flirtatious expression.

“Can you do me a favor?”

“You want one last kiss from the star of the show before it starts?”

“No.”

“Well, I could find Romy, bet she would want one…”

Jin rolled her eyes and gave Saffron a quick kiss, making the rockstar grin.

“Now you _really_ owe me a favor,” Jin said playfully.

“Anything is worth getting that.”

“I swear you’re the cheesiest woman on Remnant.”

“What do you need?” Saffron asked, rolling her eyes.

“Watch Sparky for me, alright?”

“Watch her for what?”

“Just… make sure she isn’t getting too many looks from the crowd, okay?”

“Kind of hard, considering she’s the lead singer.”

“Just make sure she doesn’t get catcalled, Saffron,” Jin snapped.

Saffron’s eyes widened.

“Catcalled? Who would catcall Ilesha?!”

“Lots of people, Saffron!”

“Why?”

“She’s not the little girl she was before, okay? And… she’s a celebrity now… people think that means that it’s okay to say whatever they want to her… _look_ at whatever they want.”

Jin looked disgusted, and she shook her head.

“That’s…,” Saffron looked up at the stage and saw that Ilesha was already standing up there, swaying slowly to the background music that Rosemary had started on her keyboard, “disgusting. Her? Really? She’s… still just…”

“It’s hard to look past when she was younger, isn’t it?”

Saffron glanced at Ilesha, and for the first time she took in how she looked now.

She was taller, more mature, and her smile was lighting up the entire bar around her. Saffron blinked in shock, her face turning a light shade of red. She guessed that Ilesha _was_ older than before… that sounded stupid.

Okay, yes, she had understood that Ilesha was older, but now… she _knew_ what that meant.

“Yeah, alright, I… I can watch her for you…”

Saffron was still staring at the other girl in shock, not noticing that Kylee, and maybe people in the audience, were doing much the same.

“Thanks.”

Jin gave her a quick hug before pulling away and joining Romy in the audience, putting her girlfriend on her shoulders so that she would be able to have a better vantage point of the stage.

Saffron went up onto the stage, stumbling just slightly before she righted herself.

Ilesha saw her arrive and gave her a big grin and a small wave.

Saffron thought she was going to trip again, but another hand reached out and grabbed onto her own, steadying her.

Ilesha held her hand for a moment before raising both of their arms up into the air.

“You dudes and dudettes ready to rock?!” Ilesha cried, her hair changing to a light shade of blond as she pulled Saffron closer to her.

There was a loud cheer, and Saffron caught onto a few voices saying some rather lude things about Ilesha.

Saffron gaped and grabbed her guitar a bit tighter with her free hand, wondering if she was going to try to hit someone over the top of the head with it.

Ilesha leaned closer to put her head on Saffron’s shoulder.

Saffron tried to put herself strategically in front of Ilesha so that less people could see her, though Ilesha didn’t seem to realize what was happening and stepped behind Saffron, putting her head on Saffron’s shoulder and wrapping one arm around her waist.

Ilesha pushed the microphone away from her mouth and glanced over at Saffron’s face.

“You okay?” she whispered.

“Yeah.”

“You look angry, do we need to take five?”

“No, it’s alright,” Saffron said quickly, and she looked out at the bar, glaring at Kylee first, considering her gaze was locked on Ilesha’s face.

Kylee looked away quickly, and Saffron continued to look around for anyone else staring at Ilesha, finding a shocking amount of people doing so.

The first song started to play, and Ilesha started to sway to the beat.

She slid her microphone into her pocket and tilted the one that was on Saffron’s head so that both of them could sing into it.

She put her other hand on Saffron’s waist, making the other girl sway with her. Saffron looked behind her, eyes going a bit wider.

Meanwhile, Arlem beat his drumsticks together.

“A-one, two, three, four!” he called.

Akio started up with lead vocals, and Ilesha settled against Saffron comfortably.

“Some days are diamonds, some days are rocks. Some doors are open, some roads are blocked. Sundowns are golden, then fade away. And if I never do nothing, I'll get you back some day,” he sang.

Ilesha and Saffron joined in for the chorus while Saffron played her base.

“'Cause you got a heart so big, it could crush this town!”

Saffron glanced over at Ilesha, who was grinning as she sang.

“And I can't hold out forever, even walls fall down.”

Saffron and Ilesha were quiet as Akio took over, grinning at Rosemary as he leaned a bit closer to her. Rosemary rolled her eyes, but there was a fond light to her gaze.

“And all around your island, there's a barricade that keeps out the danger…,” Saffron saw Ilesha close her eyes as she swayed, “that holds in the pain.”

Ilesha let out a small laugh that carried over the microphone, making Kylee practically swoon behind the bar.

“Sometimes you're happy, sometimes you cry.”

Saffron struggled not to think about the breakup that had been on Ilesha’s mind all too much as of late.

“Half of me is ocean, half of me is sky!” Ilesha sang along leading up to the chorus, making Akio roll his eyes at his team leader. Sometimes she couldn’t help herself when she loved a song.

“But you got a heart so big,” Akio sang, glancing at Ilesha with that same playfully frustrated expression.

“It could crush this town!” Zohra sang along.

“Crush this town,” Rosemary sang sagely, earning a laugh from the audience.

“And I can't hold out forever…,” Saffron sang. “Even walls fall down.”

Ilesha opened her eyes as she sang this time, looking out at the bar.

“Some things are over,” Ilesha swayed a bit slower now, and Arlen followed her movements, slowing the song for his sister. “Some things go on…”

Ilesha looked at the bar, smiling at Kylee.

“Part of me you carry… Part of me is gone.”

Saffron reached her hand out of her glove, allowing it to continue playing for her, and grabbed Ilesha’s hand in her own, pulling her a bit closer.

This time, the entire band sang along with the ending to the song.

“'Cause you got a heart so big, it could crush this town!” Arlen was more enthusiastic as he played now, grinning.

“And I can't hold out forever,” Saffron leaned back against Ilesha and closed her eyes. "Even walls fall down”

Ilesha let out a laugh and leaned closer, grinning out at the audience as they cheered to the end of the song.

She didn’t notice how many eyes were locked on her, nor who those gazes belonged to.


	16. Help

“Hey, Kylee?”

“I’m not sleeping with you, find someone else.”

“That… might be my issue?”

“Never seemed to be an issue before, just find a bar. Preferably not  _ my _ bar.”

“My problem is I  _ found _ a girl, but she doesn’t want to speak to me, much less…”

“I don’t remember a lot of talking when we did stuff,” Kylee said.

“Kylee, this is serious!” Harleen snapped.

Kylee looked up from her scroll, sighing as she put it in her pocket. She  _ supposed _ talking to Ilesha could wait, but she didn’t want it to.

“Fine. What’s up? Who is this mystery girl?”

“Well…”

Kylee’s eyes narrowed.

“Do I know her?”

“Yes?”

“I swear if it’s fucking me I will end you.”

“Ew, gross.”

Kylee gaped.

“You didn’t think it was gross  _ very _ recently!”

“Before I knew you! Now sleeping with you just sounds creepy.”

“Thanks,” Kylee said sarcastically. “But seriously, who is she?”

Harleen was silent.

“That’s… not important.”

“So it’s someone I’m close to,” Kylee’s eyes narrowed, “and she doesn’t like you.”

Harleen paled.

Kylee growled.

“If it’s my mother that you want to fuck there’s going to be a fight.”

“I don’t want to sleep with your mom!” Harleen snapped.

Torey, who was walking through the hall, stopped for a moment and glanced at the door with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s a relief.”

Harleen flushed red.

“Is anyone else in the hall?” she hissed, hurrying over and checking down the hallway to see if there was someone in down the hall.

Kylee raised an eyebrow.

“So it’s someone in this apartment, a female, that doesn’t like you and isn’t Torey, Xylia, or… me…”

Torey was immediately intrigued and hurried into the room.

“So… it’s either Pandora or… oh shit do you have a crush on Vander?! Because that would be the funniest thing I have ever heard in my  _ life! _ Even better than Kylee being in love with Ilesha!” Torey cried.

Harleen was silent, and Kylee stared at ther in shock.

“You like  _ Vander _ of all people?! The woman that called you an insult to humanity? A reason why she was glad to be a Faunus?!” Kylee cried. “If they’re nice and wholesome, I get it, believe me, but if they’re  _ Vander Rezendes, _ the woman who slut shamed me in a winter coat in the middle of August, I don’t understand!”

“That sounds like her,” Harleen smiled a bit, looking slightly dazed. “And her last name?  _ So _ exotic…”

Torey leaned over to her sister, putting her head on Kylee’s shoulder.

“Look at her face, you can actually see her thinking  _ Harleen Rezendes _ behind her eyes. Do you think she’s going to write their names in a heart? Maybe mail out invitations to their wedding!”

Kylee snickered. It was actually fun to be on the other side of this joke!

Harleen flushed a bright shade of red and glared at Torey.

“That’s not what I was thinking!” she hissed.

“Wasn’t it?” Kylee asked.

She huffed and flopped down on the bed next to Kylee.

“What do I doooo?” she whined, looking up at Kylee.

“Why are you asking me?!” Kylee hissed.

“Because at least you’re  _ friends _ with the girl that makes you lose your mind! Mine  _ hates _ me!”

“She does  _ not _ hate you,” Kylee said, rolling her eyes. “That’s just who she is, alright?”

“She might hate you,” Torey said at the same time as Kylee.

“Okay, so, how do you at  _ least _ get someone to stop calling you a whore?” Harleen asked.

Kylee looked over at her.

“I…”

“Kylee hasn’t actually  _ told _ Ilesha that she was a whore, and she hasn’t figured it out yet either, which… says a lot, I suppose,” Torey said.

Kylee smacked her arm.

“Forget it,” Harleen muttered. “She’s always going to hate me.”

“Oh, stop with the dramatics, please!” Torey cried, flopping down on the bed as well. “She hates you because you objectify people, especially her sister, who, despite her insulting her all the time, she loves! So, to do better,” Torey held up her hand and started to count on her fingers, “stop objectifying people, be nicer to her sister, stop reminding her that you were a whore, and, for the love of the brothers,  _ stop flirting with her _ !”

“What?” Harleen asked, frowning. “Then how would she know that I changed?”

“She’ll know that you changed because you  _ stop objectifying people and her, you idiot _ !” Torey snapped.

Harleen hesitated.

“So me saying this stuff to her… makes her feel like she’s Kylee?”

“Son of a- kind of?! But that’s not the problem! That means that you’re seeing her as a one night stand and she doesn’t  _ do _ those, so unless that’s what you want, stop flirting with her!”

“I’ll… stop flirting with her…”

“There you go,” Torey said, patting the other girl on the head with a small chuckle.

“Ugh!” Harleen groaned. “How do you  _ deal _ with this?! On a daily basis?!”

Kylee shrugged.

“I don’t know.”

“It  _ sucks! _ ” Harleen whined.

Kylee pulled her scroll out of her pocket, looking at her lockscreen, which was the picture that Ilesha had sent of the spoon falling off her head.

“I guess I’d have to disagree.”


	17. Introductions

Xylia stalked through the halls, rolling her eyes.

She did  _ not _ want to watch after  _ freshmen, _ but it was either that or she got detention for the next two weeks.

She pushed open the door to room 314, finding a group of five freshmen sitting around the room.

Xylia had thought there was going to be a sixth, at least that was what she had been told. She was about to ask if someone was missing, but another figure stepped out from the shadowy corner of the room, looking up at Xylia and almost having to crane her neck.

“You’re tall.”

“I… thank you?”

“Are you a junior?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re supposed to watch after at risk children once a week, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds as if that is a bad idea.”

“Excuse me?!”

“You don’t seem as if you would be the right decision to watch after children that are at risk.”

“Wait, this is for  _ at risk _ freshmen?” a woman asked, standing up from where she had been seated. She had long black hair that went almost down to her waist and a nice pristine white dress. “I’m sorry, I can’t be here.”

She stood and started to go to the door, but Xylia slid to the side, blocking it.

“Oh no you don’t! I’m not losing one of you little freshmen. Sit back down… which one are you?”

“Kylee.”

“Well, Kylee,” Xylia gave her a forced smile, “why don’t you take a seat?”

Kylee sat down, her posture prim and proper with her legs crossed at the ankles and her hands in her lap.

“And… which one is staring at me like a creeper?” Xylia asked.

“That’s Pandora,” Kylee said.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Xylia said sarcastically.

The woman smiled slightly, though it looked a bit awkward.

Xylia stared at her.

“Right… and the rest of you?”

“Vander,” said the woman seated to her right. She spoke with a slight hispanic accent. She had on a small black cap that covered some of her face, though her long dark brown hair framed her face. She was also wearing long sleeves and pants that covered almost her entire body. Xylia watched her for a moment, frowning, before she moved to the next student, pointing at them.

“Torey.”

This girl was slumped in her seat with a green hoodie and a white shirt, her polar bear ears sticking off of her head as she glanced around the room, seeming bored. She pulled out her scroll, typing away on it.

“Waseem.”

The boy was tall, though not nearly as much so as her, with short black hair and wings that stuck out to either side of him. He had on a small smile and waved at her.

“Quon.”

The final one to speak was short with a pair of Faunus ears on his head and a dark leather jacket wrapped around him.

Yeah, Xylia didn’t want to talk to  _ that _ walking cliche. He might break the mold if she did too long, but she didn’t want to put that much effort into it.

Well… looks like she had her work cut out for her with these kids.

And she needed a drink


	18. Love

Pandora was sitting on the couch, her legs crossed underneath her as she worked on paper work.

She shifted her head slightly as she heard footsteps.

“Morning, Vander.”

“Morning,” the other girl muttered, looking irritated as she grabbed her cup of coffee.

Vander stalked by and dropped onto the couch, sipping her cup. Constance had kept her up late last night, having been staying over after a late night in the office, having woken her up and started crying about nightmares. Of course, Vander had had to make sure that she got some sleep, which meant that she had to stay up and hold her new daughter and make sure that nobody got into the apartment. She didn’t have the heart to go back to sleep after she had promised Constance she would look out for her.

Pandora was barely paying attention as she turned a page in her paperwork.

“I love you,” she said idly, reaching out and grabbing her pen.

Vander smiled a bit and sat up straighter.

“I love you, too.”

She headed back into the bedroom when she had finished her coffee, curling up next to Constance just in time for her to wake up.

-

Kylee sighed in frustration, curling up on the couch dejectedly. She had had a rough night at the bar, having to tell three separate old hookups that she was no longer interested in that sort of thing. It had been awkward, and Ilesha had been a bit too supportive when she came over from a break in the gig.

Pandora walked out of her room, her head in a book as she took a seat next to Kylee.

Before long, she was slowly laying down beside Kylee, curling up at her side and letting Kylee hold her, burying her face in Pandora’s shoulder and letting herself forget about her troubles.

“I love you,” Pandora said idly, turning a page in her book.

“I love you, too,” Kylee muttered, throwing one leg over her sister’s.

Pandora hummed in response.

-

Torey was muttering to herself, and she had been for quite a while.

Pandora didn’t seem to notice that her sister was talking to herself as she walked by and took a seat on the table across from her.

“Love you, Tor.”

Torey stopped for a moment, her stress releasing for a moment.

“Love you too, Pan.”

-

“Did you pick up everything I asked for?” Xylia asked irritably, stalking up to the apartment door and letting Pandora in.

Pandora had just gotten back from the store with the groceries, and she stepped inside, passing the bags to her mother.

“Everything on the list.”

Xylia hurried back into the kitchen, preparing to go on a rant to Pandora about Vander and her new daughter, but Pandora cut in, not noticing that her mother had been about to say something.

“Love you, mom.”

Xylia set down the bags and smiled.

“Love you, sweetie.”

-

“Okay, love you, Jordy,” Pandora said, reaching out and grabbing her scroll.

Jordyn, on the other side of the call, smiled and held the scroll close to their chest.

“Alright, bye, Panny, love you.”

“Love you too,” Pandora said, reaching out and ending the call, not noticing that she had repeated herself.

Jordyn did, and smiled to themself fondly.

-

Waseem and Quon both held their sister in a hug, curling up beside her.

After a hard day, there was nothing better than one of the most defensive people they knew letting them curl up beside her. And, despite her rather reluctant nature to do so, she was an amazing hugger.

“I love you guys,” Pandora said, putting down her glass of water.

“Love you too,” they chimed.

-

Yvenne huffed and laid back on the couch, throwing a hand over her eyes.

It felt like every time she tried to talk to Saffron, she asked about Pandora! And then Jin would get upset, and Yvenne was starting to think that Jin was the jealous type, which made her worried that maybe one day she would find out that Yvenne liked Saffron and start to hate her too! And Yvenne liked Jin! She was nice and sweet and-

Pandora took a seat next to Yvenne, throwing her legs up onto the couch as she pulled out her scroll.

“Love you, Yvenne.”

Yvenne blushed a bright shade of red, but she ducked her head down with a small smile.

She was used to Pandora doing that. Pandora was the kind of person to throw around the word love whenever she was around someone she cared for, not even seeming to notice that it caused the people she loved to light up at the words.

Yvenne still blushed every time, and she wondered if she would ever stop.


	19. Do You Remember?

Alea hummed quietly to herself as she walked through the hallways, almost breaking into a skip, but she knew better than to do that if she wanted her students to take her seriously. Though… she guessed that it didn’t matter, considering her Aura was still intact. It was still like she was getting used to her semblance.

Even after all of these years, she still felt kind of like she was a kid that went here, especially considering most of the people that she cared about it were still here, with the exclusion of Oscar, but him and his husband came over at least once a month to see them, so that was enough, she guessed. Besides, they were always so busy with the family business.

Alea was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t realize there was someone in her way, and she bumped into them.

She started to topple over, but she reached out and grabbed the wall, one hand shooting out to grab whoever she had hit.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going!”

Alea pushed herself to her feet and helped the other person up, righting them with a wry grin.

Alea hesitated for a moment as she looked at the other figure. The figure looked familiar, and it took her a second to place it.

The woman was a bit shorter than her, but not overly so, with bright blue eyes and a rose-gold hair that was done up in a long ponytail.

“It’s alright,” the woman said, laughing slightly. She sounded a little out of breath and she reached up to push a bit of her hair behind her ear.

“Shouldn’t an angel like you be up in heaven?” Alea asked, buying herself some time.

The woman blushed slightly, seeming surprised.

“I…”

Alea suddenly recognized her.

“But I guess that I should just call you  _ Amanda, _ and not Angel, shouldn’t I?” Alea asked.

The other girl’s eyes widened in shock.

“Hey, Alea…,” she said quietly, looking down slightly.

“It’s so good to see you!” Alea cried, grabbing the other girl in a tight hug and spinning her around in a circle.

Amanda seemed shocked at the development, slowly putting her arms around the other girl.

“It’s been  _ forever _ !” Alea cried, putting her back down but still staying close.

“Yeah, it has…”

“Well, I’d like to think that you’re here to see me, but I guess you’re probably not, so, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Well, I’m… actually here because of my kids,” Amanda said, rubbing the back of her neck.

Alea gasped.

“You’re a mom?!”

“Yeah…”

“That’s amazing!” Alea said, reaching out and wrapping her arm around the other girl’s shoulders with a small smirk.

Amanda scrunched up a little bit, but she let the other girl stay.

“So they go here?!” Alea asked.

“Yeah…”

“Well, come on, spill, what are their names?”

Amanda sighed and gave her a small smile.

“Well-”

“Mom?” a voice called.

Amanda turned around quickly.

“Hey, sweetheart.”

“What are you doing here?” Gazella asked, crossing her arms and frowning.

“What, can’t even say hello?” Amanda asked.

“Is something wrong with Cha’ad?” Gazella questioned, looking over her shoulder.

“Should something be?” Amanda pounced immediately.

Alea glanced between Amanda and Gazella.

“Then why are you talking to our teacher?” Gazella asked.

“Oh! I can answer that one,” Alea smirked and looked between the two women with a slightly suggestive light to her eyes. “We’re old friends, aren’t we, Manda?”

“Yeah…”

Gazella grimaced.

“Gross.”

“What’s wrong with having friends?” Alea asked.

Gazella stared at her, and Amanda sighed, shaking her head.

“I was just checking on you, sweetie, how about you get back to wherever you’re supposed to be and check on your brother?” Gazella asked.

Another figure emerged from down the hall, and Alea perked up immediately when she recognized them.

“Syn!” she cried, waving her wife over.

Syntheia walked over warily, glancing between the other two figures and putting her arm around Alea’s waist.

Alea grabbed her and pulled her closer.

“You remember Amanda, right? This is my daughter, Gazella!”

Syntheia hesitated.

“Right… nice to meet you, nice to see you again.”

Syntheia didn’t want to mention that she barely remembered the other girl. Amanda couldn’t say the same.

“I hate to say it, but shouldn’t you be in class?” Syntheia asked Gazella, who gave her a scathing glare.

Syntheia hated to admit that she was slightly intimidated by the student.

“Shouldn’t you be teaching one?” Gazella asked.

“It’s our off period,” Alea said, rubbing Syntheia’s arm up and down with her hand before squeezing it.

Syntheia ducked her head as she blushed slightly, leaning into the touch.

“Sweetie, just go to the class,” Amanda said.

Gazella huffed and stalked off, seemingly irritated, but she waved goodbye to her mother.

“Sorry about her… she has a bit of an issue with her anger,” Amanda said awkwardly.

“Oh, we get it, our second one has some anger issues too,” Syntheia said.

“What?” Alea looked down at her wife. “No, she doesn’t.”

“Babe, she made another girl go home crying once at a spar because she said that Ilesha’s princess outfit was tacky.”

“Yeah, well, that was because she was wrong,” Alea muttered. She had helped Ilesha pick out that outfit herself specifically for her tenth birthday.

“Yeah, and she told that girl that neither of her parents loved her because they got divorced,” Syntheia said.

Amanda’s eyes widened.

“That sounds like something my Gazella would say,” she said with a quiet laugh.

Alea gave her a grin, but it came across as a smirk.

“So, do you live nearby?” Alea asked.

Syntheia tapped her on the arm to let her know that she was coming across as not so innocent. Alea was surprised, but tried to tone it back.

“Uh, no, actually, just in town to make sure that Gazella doesn’t get in trouble and Cha’ad doesn’t get roped into a pyramid scheme.”

Alea laughed and shook her head.

“So, how long are you in town then?”

“Just a few days, can’t afford a hotel for much longer,” Amanda said, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Wait, is your son Cha’ad Smi’ith?” Syntheia asked.

Amanda nodded awkwardly, worried that the other girl would bring up that her children had  _ very _ different last names, neither of which being her maiden one.

“Oh, he and Gazella are in my class,” Syntheia said, putting her head on Alea’s shoulder.

“You know, if money’s an issue, you can stay at our house,” Alea said quickly.

Syntheia squeezed her arm tightly, but Alea just seemed to take that as an invite to pull her closer and kiss her on the head.

Definitely not the message she had been trying to send to her.

“That’s…  _ very _ sweet, Alea, but I’d hate to put you and Syntheia out,” Amanda said awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Oh, it’s no big deal! The five of us have more than enough room now that the three little ones are staying here!” Alea said.

“Oh, so you all…,” Alea gave her a small smile, and Alea smirked.

“Yeah, we did! It was an  _ amazing _ ceremony,” Alea said, kissing Syntheia again.

Syntheia blushed.

“But seriously, it’d be no trouble to have you over for a week or two!” Alea said, reaching out and putting her hand on Amanda’s arm. “It’d give us time to catch up, it’s been forever since we got to talk, so… if you’re worried about the kids, you and the spouse can stay with us!”

Syntheia elbowed her wife.

“Oh, uh… actually, it’s just me,” Amanda said, looking away.

Alea blinked.

“Oh! I’m sorry,  _ you _ can stay with us,” Alea smirked and sent the other girl a wink, making Amanda smile a bit.

“Well… if you really don’t mind…”

“I  _ do _ mind,” Alea said, making Amanda frown and look at her. “Because if you don’t, then I’d be  _ very _ upset.”

Amanda let out a small chuckle and nodded.

“Oh… well, if your wives are okay…”

“Oh, they will be! Come on, we can get you settled right away!” Alea said, grabbing her hand.

“Alea,” Syntheia hissed.

“Right! School. After today, we can get you settled in.”

Syntheia nodded and kissed her wife before dragging her to their class.


	20. Date

Ilesha was seated on the couch, trying not to look awkward. She was rather good at that, she thought. She had on a big grin and was starting to sway back and forth slightly, not realizing that she was copying her aunt.

“You sure you’re comfortable? Do you want some water or-”

“Ky-Ky,” Ilesha giggled, “I’m fine, you’re the reason I came here anyways, so how about you stop worrying so much and come sit down!”

Ilesha patted the seat next to her, and Kylee flushed a bright shade of red, trying not to stutter.

“S-sure.”

Kylee took a seat, trying to hold her breath so that she wouldn’t hyperventilate as Ilesha moved closer and suddenly gained a serious expression.

“It’s been long enough that the time has come. You have to confess.”

Kylee panicked.

“W-what?!” she said, her voice practically a squeak.

How could Ilesha know?! She knew that she had been rather obvious, but still, it was Ilesha! She was pure and precious and amazing and there was no way that she would be doing this to her friend because Ilesha was-

Kylee needed to stop thinking about the perfect things about her friend if she wanted to actually get something accomplished.

Kylee cleared her throat.

“W-what about?”

“Your girlfriend, silly! Tell me about her!”

“My what?” Kylee cried, almost falling off of the couch at the words.

“Your girlfriend! She’s over there, isn’t she?” Ilesha hissed, pointing across the room at Harleen, who was laying on the ground and staring up at Vander like she was magic, though Vander didn’t seem to notice in the slightest.

“Wh- Harleen?!”

“What do you want?” Harleen called back, almost falling on her side in shock.

“I’m not talking to you!” Kylee snapped, waving her hand and turning back to look at Ilesha. “We’re not dating.”

“We’re what?”

“Harleen, this isn’t about you!”

“You’re talking about me!”

Kylee ignored her.

“You’re not?” Ilesha asked, tilting her head to the side slightly in confusion.

“No!”

“Then what were you two doing in the bar?”

“We were about to fu-”

Harleen was cut off as Vander kicked her in the side, making her grunt.

“About to what?” Ilesha asked, still frowning in complete confusion.

“Sparky,” Jin said, looking up from Romy, who was leaning against her side.

“Yeah?”

“They were going to sleep together.”

“What’s that got to do with dating? We’ve slept together!”

Jin flushed and Kylee started to cough, losing any breath she could have gotten back after the question.

“Not that kind of slept together!”

Ilesha glanced between Jin and Kylee for a moment, seeming confused.

Kylee thought that if she died right then, then she would die grateful.

“There’s another kind of sleeping together?” Ilesha asked.

Kylee let her head fall back and hit the couch behind her.

The room had fallen silent at this point, everyone staring at Ilesha in absolute shock.

Ilesha glanced around for a moment with a confused expression.

Xylia had put her hand on Pandora’s shoulder when Pandora leaned back against her, head tilted to the side slightly.

“Xylia?”

“Yes?”

“Does she need help?”

“No, I just think she doesn’t understand innuendos.”

“Are you sure that she’s been taken care of? She seems off.”

“She’s like you,” Xylia set her chin on Pandora’s head. “A little bit off, but that’s because she’s supposed to be.”

“Oh.”

Meanwhile, Jin was trying not to laugh at the look on Kylee’s face. Vander was too, but she had failed several moments ago and was cackling loudly. Torey was confused about what was going on and was going to ask the strange woman sitting beside her, but Aella seemed equally confused, leaning against Cooper’s side and whispering in his ear so quietly that nobody else in the room could hear her.

“Kylee?” Ilesha asked.

“Is she fucking serious?” Harleen asked, looking around for help.

Saffron met her gaze and shrugged before glancing to the side and frowning in confusion as she watched Pandora, trying to figure out what was going on with her. This was not the confident police officer she had met the other day, right? Not the one that had, surprisingly, scared her just a bit?

Pandora was surveying the room, eyes slightly narrowed as she took in every piece of information she could find. After a moment, her gaze landed on Saffron, and the two made eye contact.

Saffron looked away, feeling caught, but she could sense that Pandora was still watching her, eyes filled with confusion.

“Yes, she is serious,” Jin said, trying to not chuckle.

“Am I missing something?” Ilesha asked.

“Sleeping with someone,” Xylia said, calming herself slightly, “means having relations with them.”

“Like being related to them?”

“NO!” everyone screamed together, excluding Aella and Ilesha.

“Having sex with them, that’s what it means,” Torey said, breaking the silence finally.

Ilesha’s eyes widened.

“Oh. That kind of sleeping with someone.”

“Yeah,” Kylee croaked.

“Kylee was a whore,” Vander added.

Cooper looked up, eyes going wide, and Vander flushed, cursing herself internally.

Kylee’s eyes widened and she shot up to a sitting position.

“A what?” Ilesha asked.

“It means she slept with a lot of girls,” Jin said gently, though she had a small smirk on her face as she glanced at Kylee, as if to say “I won.”

Ilesha sat there in silence, and the conversations started to pick back up awkwardly.

Kylee was waiting for Ilesha to do or say anything, but she hadn’t, and she looked down sadly. She knew that this was going to happen, that Ilesha was going to find out, but before she could kid herself and pretend that it was a long time away, that she was going to be ready for it even.

Turns out that it didn’t matter how long it was going to be, it was going to hurt regardless.

“Are you okay?” Ilesha asked suddenly, reaching out and putting her hand on Kylee’s knee.

Kylee jumped and looked over at Ilesha, flushing.

“Y-yeah!” she lied.

Ilesha grabbed her hand and stood unceremoniously, pulling the other girl away.

“Is this your room?” Ilesha asked.

Kylee nodded, letting herself be dragged into her bedroom, Jin scowling the entire time.

Kylee hated to admit it, but her heart was racing as she looked between Ilesha and their connected hands.

-

“So, you’re a police officer?”

“Did you not recognize me?” Pandora asked, her head tilted to the side slightly in confusion.

Saffron didn’t know if it was a joke or not.

“I did…”

“I only recognized you because of the tail,” Pandora said.

“Wh… thank you?”

“It’s very… red.”

“It is a red panda tail, so… I hope it is?” Saffron said, though it sounded more like a question.

“It is,” Pandora said, nodding.

She had on an almost smile, seeming exceedingly awkward.

Saffron couldn't tell if this was on purpose or if she was truly just as nervous as she seemed. But it couldn’t be that, right? She had  _ seen _ her a few days ago, and she certainly hadn’t been awkward then!

Pandora blinked at her almost owlishly, and Saffron found herself flushing in embarrassment, unsure what to do or say.

“You’re a singer, right?” Pandora asked.

“Well, singer and guitarist, but yes.”

“That’s right, you’re not the lead singer, are you?”

“Well, no, but I do have several albums,” Saffron said, though she didn’t know why she felt like she had to impress Pandora.

“I’ve heard them. Vander plays them a lot.”

Saffron found herself having to hold back from asking if the other girl liked them.

“Yeah?” she settled for asking instead.

“Yeah.”

There was a long beat of silence and Saffron shifted uncomfortably.

“I think Ilesha is the better singer.”

“Oh. Well, that’s why she’s the lead, I guess,” Saffron said, though she bristled slightly and had to comb back the fur on her tail.

Pandora looked a little confused, her eyes darting across Saffron’s facial features.

“You’re a good guitarist, though,” she said.

Saffron sat up a bit straight, a small smirk on her face.

“You think so?”

“Yes, I’ve heard your songs enough to know.”

Saffron was about to say something, not noticing that Jin and Romy were watching her with slightly confused expressions, but Pandora spoke first.

“I’m sorry, but can I ask an odd question?”

“Sure?” Saffron asked back.

“Can you take off your sunglasses?”

“What?!”

Pandora watched her for a moment.

“I can’t see your eyes.”

“So?”

“Also, it’s dark.”

“I’m a f-”

“A faunus, yes, but it’s odd, and I still can’t see your eyes.”

“Why does that matter?” Saffron asked, shifting a little ways away from Pandora.

Pandora watched her for a moment, frowning a little bit and chewing on her bottom lip as if she was trying to concentrate.

Saffron followed the motion with her eyes.

“A lot of human social cues are portrayed by the eyes.”

“Uh, well…,” Saffron was about to comply with the request, but she found herself trailing off as another voice spoke up.

“Pandora? Remember what we talked about?”

“Manners?” Pandora asked, turning her head to the side, her ponytail falling over one shoulder and cresting the hem of her shirt.

“Yes,” Xylia said, smiling fondly, “please try to use them.”

“Did I not?” Pandora asked, looking genuinely confused. She played with her fingers for a moment, connecting her thumb to her middle finger, followed by her first and third, and finally her pinky. She repeated the process again.

Saffron kept her gaze on her hand, frowning a bit as she watched the motion.

“Asking people to undress is rude, even if they’re pretty women.”

“She’s pretty?” Pandora asked, frowning and glancing back at Saffron, who watched her with wide eyes and a light blush.

Xylia let out a quiet sigh and turned to Saffron.

“I’m sorry about that.”

Pandora frowned a little bit and glanced at Saffron.

“Sorry?”

“It’s… fine?” Saffron said, though she felt a little bit confused.

Xylia looked between the two before shrugging and turning around.

Saffron wasn’t sure what was going on, but as she watched Pandora, she found that she wanted to figure it out.

-

Aella was laying down in mid air, letting the wind hold her up as she laughed, playing with Cooper’s hair. She looked like she was laying on her stomach in midair, reaching down to play with Cooper with one hand while she let the other dangle down, slightly blowing in the wind. Her legs were kicked up behind her and slightly swaying back and forth.

She was laughing at something that her cousin had said, leaning down a little bit.

“How are you doing that?” a voice asked.

Aella looked over for a moment and frowned in confusion.

“Floating?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s my semblance!” Aella said, floating down a bit toward her. “I can manipulate wind!”

“That’s cool,” Torey said, watching the other girl get closer.

“It’s not the best for fighting, I guess,” Aella shrugged, “but-”

“Hold on!” Cooper cried. “Didn’t you beat the shit out of Saffron?! Multiple times?!”

“She what?” Torey asked, eyes wide.

“That’s not really what happened,” Aella said awkwardly, but there was a slightly smug smile on her lips.

“She took Saffron’s weapons almost single handedly and kept them away from her for a week.”

“That’s out of context,” Aella said, flushing.

“You still did it!”

“That’s pretty impressive,” Torey said. “Though I can’t say it’s a surprise.”

“Uh… thanks?”

Cooper was about to continue, but got distracted as someone else got his attention.

“So, Aella, right?” Torey asked.

“Yes indeed, Torey!”

“You go to Beacon then?”

“Yep! What about you? College?”

“Nope.”

“Couldn’t afford it or not interested?”

“Not interested.”

Aella fell down and her cloak flopped around her, revealing her form a bit more.

“So what do you do?”

“That’s…,” Torey thought for a second, wondering what she could say. “I’m in a family business.”

“This family?” Aella asked, gesturing around.

“Yeah.”

“That’s cool! You guys seem really sweet,” Aella said sincerely.

“Thanks. What about you? Why are you a huntress?”

Aella thought for a moment.

“I don’t know, I wanted to go with my siblings to school, didn’t want to be the only one not to go there… and I wanted to help people, so I went there!”

“So what are you going to do after you graduate?”

“I was thinking maybe I could help make…,” Aella hesitated, “well, it’s stupid.”

“What is it?” Torey asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I thought maybe that… ever since the war ended, there’s been less need for actual hunters and huntresses, so they need new things to do for society, right?”

“I guess that makes sense, yeah.”

“So there should be a company that helps them get positions after their education to help the public sector!” Aella was getting excited now, and she leaned over to Torey as she talked, not seeming to not realize.

“That’s… actually really awesome!” Torey said, sounding shocked.

Aella smiled nervously.

“You think so?”

“Yeah! I… actually, I do,” Torey said. She still sounded surprised, and she was watching Aella with a curious expression.

Aella’s smile broadened.

“So, what exactly is this business of yours?” Aella asked.

“Uh, well, it’s… kind of like…,” Torey hesitated. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Oh. Well, if you ever need anything, you can just ask! I’m really good at fixing things, that’s kinda  _ my _ thing!” Aella said, leaning back on the floor and kicking one foot on top of her knee.

“Well, you might just have to give me a number to call then,” Torey said, raising an eyebrow and smiling at the other girl. She leaned a bit down so that the two were laying down next to each other.

“Right!” Aella shot up and scrambled to grab something out of her cloak, revealing a pen and paper which she scrawled on. “Here ya go!”

Torey blinked.

“You… could have just told me, I have my scroll right here.”

Aella hesitated.

“But… that’s more dramatic!”

Torey laughed and grabbed the paper, putting it in her jacket pocket.

“Well, thank you, I appreciate it.”

“No problem!”

“So… are you seeing anyone, or are you ready to fix someone’s singleness?”

“Actually I am seeing someone!” Aella cried excitedly, not noticing Torey’s expression change. “Well, kind of?”

“Kind of?”

“I’m seeing  _ multiple _ someones! Three, to be exact!”

“Oooh, you’re one of those,” Torey said slowly.

“One of what?” Aella asked, tilting her head to the side just a bit.

“Nothing,” Torey said, though she continued to watch Aella with that same confusing expression as Aella talked.

-

Cooper was trying not to laugh as he laid back on the ground, shaking his head.

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Cooper said. “I didn’t know that you worked with kids, Van!”

Vander awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

“Yeah, sometimes,” she said, giving him a small smile.

“Most the time,” Harleen said. For some reason, it sounded almost as if she was proud of her boss.

“You know, I was thinking that what you agreed to work with me on would be a good opportunity for some of your clients!” Cooper said enthusiastically.

“Well, like Harleens said, most of my clients are younger,” Vander said, “so I think that most of this would have to be outsourced.”

“Oh, I was thinking about that!” Cooper scooted closer to Vander and pulled a scroll out of his pocket. “Can you open please?”

The scroll opened, making Harleen squint in confusion, but Cooper just gave her a grin.

“So, I was thinking…”

Harleen didn’t hear whatever Cooper had been thinking, instead focusing on Vander, who was staring at Cooper as if he was magic. She had put on her bisexual pin on her chest as if to scream to the boy beside her that she was willing to date a man, despite her rather daunting appearance.

Vander was also  _ smiling _ ! A lot! She was leaning closer to Cooper and clearly having trouble focusing on whatever Cooper was saying, watching him fondly.

Harleen didn’t like any of this. Not one bit. She could feel a bit of her arm hair stand on end, and she had to look away, crossing her arms against her chest.

This whole feelings thing was  _ definitely _ not something she was enjoying.

-

Yvenne wasn’t sure how to feel as she sat there, squished on the edge of the couch next to Jin. Her gaze kept glancing between Pandora and Saffron, who were in a deep conversation. Or, rather, Saffron was trying to get into a deep conversation with the other girl, and Pandora seemed rather nervous, though that was to be expected.

“So where do you work?”

“For the police.”

“I… meant which precinct are you in,” Saffron said, trailing off slightly.

Pandora blinked.

“The fifteenth.”

“Oh. I think you may have had my girlfriend’s mother there once.”

“Who?”

“Neopolitan?”

“We didn’t.”

“Oh. I th-”

“It was twice.”

Saffron stared at her for a moment.

“Was that a joke?”

“Well, it was true.”

Saffron watched Pandora for a long moment before she saw Pandora’s face splint into an awkward grin as she started to chuckle.

Saffron struggled not to do the same.

“What’s so funny?”

“You’re just so  _ serious _ ,” Pandora said. “What are you trying to do, psychoanalyze me? Well, Saffron Adel,” Pandora leaned a bit closer and looked Saffron in the eyes, “I hate to say it to the woman who  _ won the last tournament, _ as you like to remind everyone, but not even therapists could achieve that, so I wish you all of the luck imaginable.”

Saffron didn’t realize she had been holding her breath until Pandora pulled away.

“Be that as it may, I should say that I’m not the type to defy such a provocation.”

Pandora raised an eyebrow for a moment before both of hers furrowed.

“You just changed.”

Saffron frowned.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Your syntax shifted. What happened?”

“I’m afraid that I’m not certain what you’re alluding to,” Saffron said.

Pandora stared at her for a long moment before she sat up straight and turned, seeming to not realize that Saffron was still there and watching her. Or, if she did realize, she didn’t see why it was of any importance.

“Xy?”

“Yes, Panny?”

“Why would someone change syntax mid conversation?”

“There’s a lot of reasons, but perhaps we should discuss this after your little friend has left?”

“Is this rude?”

“Yes,” Xylia, Torey, Vander, and Yvenne chorused together.

Saffron wasn’t sure what was going on, but she was focused on what exactly Pandora was talking about.

Jin, on the other hand, was watching her girlfriend with a small frown and a squint.

Pandora turned back to face Saffron.

“My sincerest apologies,” Pandora said.

Jin immediately picked up on Pandora’s shift in “syntax” as she had referred to it before. She was matching Saffron’s.

Saffron smiled just a bit and looked like she was going to shift her sunglasses for a moment before realizing that they were in her pocket, having been there since she had taken them off for Pandora’s sake.

-

Ilesha sat down on Kylee’s bed and patted it for the other girl to join her.

Kylee’s heart was racing still, and she glanced over at her friend for a moment, wondering what Ilesha was thinking.

Was she mad at her for not telling her? Was she going to tell Kylee that they needed to stop talking? That she knew how Kylee felt about Ilesha and that she was disgusted? That Kylee was the worst person she knew?

Despite all of these worse case scenarios that were running through her mind, she still had a small delusion that had joined them, offering up a world where Ilesha would grab her by the hand and confess her love and-

Kylee was letting her imagination run wild, and she silenced it ruthlessly.

“Are you okay?”

That was definitely not what Kylee had expected for Ilesha to say.

“I… what?”

“I’m sorry that I embarrassed you in there,” Ilesha whispered, looking down at the ground and rubbing the back of her neck. “I didn’t know what that meant, and I know that it can be annoying when I don’t catch onto that sort of subject quickly, and then it embarrassed you and I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Ilesha had said all of this very quickly, and Kylee found it difficult to keep up with everything she had said.

“Wh… Ilesha, there’s nothing you have to apologize for.”

Ilesha glanced at her and frowned.

“Really?”

“If anything, I should apologize for embarrassing  _ you _ in there, for my friends saying that sort of thing… or maybe that I didn’t tell you about my… rather disgraceful past. And… it’s not annoying when you do that. If anything it’s…”

Ilesha stared at her in confusion.

“... sweet,” Kylee said.

Ilesha took her hand and looked her in the eyes, making Kylee’s heart clench painfully.

“Well, you don’t have to apologize for anything either. Especially not your past. It doesn’t define you, and it doesn’t make you any different to me. So you had a little fun,” Ilesha shrugged, “and maybe you still are. That doesn’t matter, Kylee, as long as you’re safe and happy.”

Kylee wondered if she was going to pass out or just die from what she had just heard, from the way Ilesha was looking at her with those innocent brown eyes, making it abundantly clear that she meant every word that she said.

“I’m… I’m not doing that anymore, but… thank you,” Kylee whispered.

There was a long silence, and Ilesha laid down on the bed, Kylee slowly following her, their hands still connected as they watched each other. Their eyes met, and Kylee found herself in a daze, unable to tear her gaze from the other girl.

She was just stunning, especially if one were to ask Kylee. She still couldn’t believe that she was laying here in her bed beside the woman of her dreams (though, to be fair, she hadn’t known the woman was the one of her dreams until she had met her and instantly lost herself in those caramel eyes). And that that woman would be  _ Ilesha… _ and not even to mention that she would be laying there and telling Kylee that she was worth love and acceptance even after everything she had done.

When the silence was finally broken, it was by Ilesha.

“What changed?”

“Huh?” Kylee whispered, not wanting to ruin the mood.

“About you. Why aren’t you doing that anymore.”

Kylee took a long moment to think, her mind going blank with fear. For a moment, she wanted to confess, to tell Ilesha that it was her that had changed her. Then she worried that Ilesah knew already and that she was going to take back everything she had said!

Kylee knew that neither of those could happen, however, and she took a deep breath.

“I realized that’s not what I want.”

Ilesha was still watching her now, and her eyes had changed slightly, her grip on Kylee’s hand tightening.

“What do you want?”

Kylee could barely hear the question over the pounding in her ears.

“I want to find something special. Or, well… someone special.”

“Do you ever think you won’t find that person?” Ilesha whispered.

“No.”

“You don’t?”

“I sometimes think that’s not my problem.”

Ilesha wrapped her arms around Kylee and buried her face in Kylee’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” her voice cracked, “me too.”

-

It wasn’t that Romy was a jealous person. She thought that her entire was proof that she could handle jealousy, what with her sister dating the woman she thought she was in love with and then having to deal with the two women she really is in love with date each other and thinking that Romy was nothing but a hurt puppy they were taking care of for a while.

So, suffice it to say, she could handle jealousy.

However, she knew that her girlfriend, Jin that is, could definitely  _ not, _ especially considering that she was trying her hardest not to glare at Pandora, but she was failing.

Pandora seemed to have noticed, and she made eye contact with Jin, frowning just a bit.

“Does your friend not like me?” she asked Saffron, her head tilting to the side slightly.

“Girlfriend,” Jin corrected quickly, wrapping her arm around Saffron’s shoulders.

Pandora blinked at the two.

“Does your girlfriend not like me?”

Jin didn’t know how to respond, and Saffron didn’t either.

“I’m sure she likes you,” Saffron said slowly.

Pandora leaned back where she was sitting.

“Okay.”

Saffron, once again, appeared intrigued and leaned forward without seeming to notice it.

She was about to speak, but once again, Pandora interrupted her.

“Why do you wear gloves? It’s not cold,” she said.

Saffron hesitated.

“That’s… more personal.”

Pandora blinked again, and Saffron thought she could almost see the girl thinking, the gears in her head turning.

“Gloves are personal.”

“Uh…”

Pandora nodded and gave her a small smile.

“Okay. I won’t ask about them.”

Saffron leaned back against Jin, as if she was trying to recoup and think of what to do next.

Jin wasn’t sure why her girlfriend was still trying to speak to the confusing woman.

-

Ilesha took a moment to wrap her arms around Kylee tighter.

Kylee was laying on the bed beside her, trying to keep her heart from racing too fast, considering Ilesha’s head was laying on her chest and she could probably hear every beat.

“Ky-Ky?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that girl, whoever she is. If she has good taste, I’m sure everything will end up great.”

“I don’t know about that.”

Ilesha sat up slightly and looked down at her friend.

“Why is that?”

Kylee wasn’t sure if she should let it go, but the look in Ilesha’s eyes made her incapable of doing so.

“I don’t think I’m anywhere  _ near _ her league.”

“Ky-Ky, I’m going to be honest with you here,” Ilesha said, putting her hand on Kylee’s cheek gently. “There’s no such thing as leagues. If someone makes you happy, then that’s it. If you both make each other happy, then… that’s all there should be.”

Kylee couldn’t say a word, staring up at her eyes with an expression of utmost fondness.

The words made Kylee want to have the guts to lean up and kiss her, but she knew better than to do that, so she fell silent and let herself melt into Ilesha’s embrace until Ilesha let Kylee wrap her arms around her.

-

Saffron was still unsure what all had happened while she was visiting with her friends when it was time to leave. She was about to step out of the door, but was stopped when she heard a voice.

“Saffron?”

Saffron stopped immediately when she recognized who had spoken, and she turned around, not noticing that Jin seemed very frustrated by this action.

“Yeah?”

“May I speak with you for a moment?”

Saffron pulled her hand out of Jin’s and nodded, jogging over to the other girl.

“Yeah, sure!”

There was a beat of silence, and Saffron saw Pandora messing with her fingers again the way she had been before. Middle, first, third, fourth, repeat.

“I just wanted to say thank you for taking off your sunglasses, even though I realize now that was rude. And thank you for not being mean about it.”

Saffron stared at the other girl for a moment.

“Uh, yeah, no problem.”

Pandora stared at her for a long moment, and Saffron wondered if she was supposed to leave.

"Your presence is… appreciated.”

Saffron blinked this time.

“Thank you?”

Pandora held out her hand slowly, and Saffron took it.

Pandora shook her hand and smiled at her in a way she hadn’t done for the entire time she had known her.

Saffron froze for a moment, eyes going wide.

Pandora’s eyes were partly closed now and she squeezed Saffron’s hand while she grinned.

Her smile was a bit… off, almost as if she had seen what smiling was when she was younger and hadn’t known exactly how to do it herself and had spent a long time trying to copy a smile she had come to know.

In fact, Saffron thought that it reminded her of Xylia’s smile quite a bit.

Despite that, Saffron found the awkward smile incredibly adorable, something that she hadn’t been expecting.

“We should do this,” Pandora paused for a moment, barely noticeable, as if she was trying to remember something she had heard a lot, “again sometime.”

Saffron found herself smiling back, and she ran a hand through her hair.

“Does this mean you’re sorry for pulling me over last week?”

“Oh definitely not,” Pandora said, her expression changing to serious. “You were speeding, of course I had to pull you over. It’s illegal.”

Saffron stared at the other girl for a moment, blinking.

“You should try not to do that again, or the price will be higher,” Pandora said.

“But what if I need to see you again?” Saffron asked, a small smirk on her face.

“I’m sure there are easier ways to do that.”

“But are they as fun?”

“They’re cheaper.”

“Sure, but a little danger is always fun.”

Pandora blinked at her and pulled her hand away from Saffron.

“You’re odd.”

“Uh… thanks?”

Pandora smiled again.

“Until next time.”

“Y-yeah… okay...”

Saffron took a moment to smile before taking a step back.

“Bye!”

“Are you okay?” Jin asked, frowning.

“Yeah, there’s just something… off about that girl.”

“In a bad way?” Romy asked, grabbing Saffron’s hand.

“I don’t think so.”

-

Ilesha gave Kylee a tight hug and buried her face in her neck.

“It was nice talking, Ky-Ky!”

“Yeah… see you later.”

“You can count on it!”

She guessed she could, but she wasn’t sure if she should think that was a good thing or not.

“Are you coming to the gig tomorrow?” Ilesha asked.

Ilesha knew that Kylee was going to be in the bar where the gig was going to be held tomorrow night. The two had talked about it, and Kylee remembered that. She had a shift at the bar tomorrow. But… that wasn’t what Ilesha was asking, and she knew it.

Ilesha wanted to know  _ why _ she was going to be there.

“Of course I’m going to be there for you,” Kylee said, smiling gently.

Ilesha stared at her for a moment before leaning forward and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

“I can’t wait to see you there.”

“Y-yeah… you too.”

Ilesha stepped out of the apartment after a moment, her mind whirling.


End file.
